COVID hospitalizations in Escambia have nearly quadrupled over the past two weeks.
The city of Pensacola has an excellent dashboard that displays COVID-19 patients currently in Ascension Sacred Heart, Baptist Hospital and West Florida Hospital.
As of July 2, the report showed our hospitals had 81 COVID patients. Â Mayor Grover Robinson shared the breakdown:
Ascension Sacred Heart: 23
Baptist Hospital: 17
West Florida Hospital: 41
“We have been tracking since March,” Mayor Robinson told Inweekly. “The city did not officially repost until mid-May.”
He shared, “Before mid-June, the highest point was the third week of April with 30. From then until mid-June, it bumped around 9 to 22 patients.”
So COVID hospitalizations have nearly quadrupled over the past two weeks.
According to the mayor, West Florida Hospital for a long time had none and now it has exploded. Baptist used to have the highest for a short time, but Ascension Sacred and West Florida have since taken off.
Update: We’ve received clarification Baptist total includes daily cases at Gulf Breeze Hospital. WFH includes Santa Rosa Medical.
County Administrator Janice Gilley has repeatedly said in the county’s releases: “Escambia County continues to stay in daily contact with health officials at the Florida Department of Health and local hospitals in regard to public health concerns related to the Coronavirus (COVID-19). ”
When the commissioners talked about hospitalizations yesterday, Gilley should have given the same numbers as the city has on its dashboard.
The city dashboard also gives the staffing status for Pensacola Fire, Police and Dispatch.
Why can’t the county do the same for all its departments?