Florida must plan for 'hospital surge' amid new COVID-19 wave, former Trump official says

"It's too late" for Florida to mitigate its latest COVID-19 surge "meaningfully," Thomas Bossert, who served as former President Donald Trump's homeland security adviser until 2018, tweeted Saturday.

The state is in "unchartered territory," he explained, noting that it just recorded the highest number of cases in a 24-hour period since the pandemic began. More significantly, though, more than 10,000 people are currently hospitalized with an infection, which accounts for 83 percent of Florida's all-time pandemic high. New York Times' data shows hospitalizations are up 123 percent in the last 14 days, the fourth highest rate in the country.

Bossert warns that there's not much Florida can do to stop the spread at this point — although the data he presents doesn't provide a locality breakdown, so the analysis may not apply to every part of the state — and instead must "change gears" and plan for a "hospital surge," particularly when it comes to pediatric capacity.

Too late in FL to mitigate meaningfully. FL has 2,038 in ICUs. FL needs to position to deal w/ the potential of 3-4 weeks of overwhelmed healthcare systems: plan for hospital surge, especially pediatric capacity. Neighboring states are strained & soon might not be able to help.

— Thomas P. Bossert (@TomBossert) July 31, 2021

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