43 Florida ICUs at capacity as coronavirus cases surge

Forty-three Florida hospital intensive care units (ICUs) across 21 counties have reached capacity as coronavirus cases in the Sunshine State surge, according to new data from the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA).

Miami-Dade, Broward, Hillsborough and Orange counties are among those with affected hospitals, according to the AHCA data, with another 32 hospitals at bed availability of no more than 10 percent.

The report comes the same day the state Department of Health confirmed 7,347 new cases in the state, for a total of 213,794, and set a new record for the percentage of tests coming back positive, at 16.3 percent, on Monday.

Single-day levels remain below the single-day record of 11,458 new cases reported Saturday, which broke the previous record of the Thursday before.

Miami-Dade, the state’s most populous county, reported an increase of 2,066 cases Tuesday, a drop from 6,336 cases Monday. The county tops the state for most overall deaths, with 1,057, as of Tuesday.

Despite the number of cases in the county, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez (R) on Tuesday reversed his own earlier order and announced gyms in the county would be allowed to reopen.

“I had a very productive virtual meeting just now with our medical experts and the County’s Wellness Group. We arrived at a compromise to keep gyms & fitness studios open,” Gimenez tweeted Tuesday.

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has said he will not impose a statewide mask mandate even as cases climb in the state, nor will he reverse earlier reopening measures.

“We’re not going back, closing things,” he said last week. “I don’t think that that’s really what’s driving it. People going to a business is not what’s driving it. I think when you see the younger folks — I think a lot of it is more just social interactions, so that’s natural.”

Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran announced Monday that schools will reopen in August, but with the option for local health officials to override the decision based on new cases in their counties.