Palm Beach County Mayor Dave Kerner says that local hospitals are not currently pushed to capacity due to the coronavirus.
Kerner explains that the county has plans, if needed, to open 150 ICU beds in tents at St. Mary’s Medical Center and Delray Medical Center.
There is an additional plan to open a field hospital at the South Florida Fairgrounds for another 150 ICU beds, if necessary.
However, the mayor also feels that neither of those options will be necessary.
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According to Kerner, the recent spikes in COVID-19 cases locally have been mostly among younger people, many of whom he says do not require hospitalization.
Meanwhile, the Florida Dept. of Health is now reporting COVID-19 hospitalizations each day on its dashboard.
The latest figures, released Wednesday, show 1,776 coronavirus-related hospitalizations in Palm Beach County.