Florida Governor Ron DeSantis posted a clip on Twitter on Monday of a prominent physician in the state explaining during a CNN interview how the coronavirus outbreak in the Sunshine State is different from the epidemic that hit New York.
Dr. Charles Lockwood, senior vice president of USF Health, told CNN’s John King that the situation in the state is complicated.
“We have had a 5x 5.4 fold increase in cases since June 10th. We’ve had about 3-fold increases in hospitalizations and about 2.5-fold increases in deaths, “Lockwood said.
“Each death is terrible, but it is a different epidemic from that of New York,” he stressed. “We have a much younger population that is being diagnosed and we are much better prepared. Obviously, we have had three months to prepare, so we have a lot of capacity to increase. When you get those ICU numbers, they don’t really reflect all of the ICU emergency capacity that hospitals have built. ”
“For example, Tampa General has 87 additional fans available that we haven’t started using yet. But the most striking thing is our case fatality rate, which has decreased and decreased. Now it’s 1.5 percent, so they’re cases, deaths over cases, “Lockwood continued. “It is one of the lowest in the country. And in fact, in Tampa, in Hillsborough County, today, a few minutes ago, it dropped to less than 1 percent. We have a case fatality rate of less than 1 percent, so much of that reflects the younger population. Most of the people we are diagnosing are between 15 and 44 years old. “
“Most of the people in the hospital, in the ICU, are between 55 and 85 years old. Therefore, the other thing is that we are much better able to take care of them in the hospital. We have Remdesivir We have dexamethasone; We have convalescent plasma therapy and we do much better ventilation work, ”Lockwood continued. “There are a couple of other reasons why I’m not as pessimistic as maybe some people you’ve heard. One is that we seem to have peaked about a week ago on emergency department visits for COVID-like illnesses and also for flu-like illnesses. “
“The other is that our horrible positive test rate, which was 20 percent 10 days ago, was actually 20 percent even on 8/7, July 8, now it has dropped to around 11 percent. So that’s a trend in the right direction, “Lockwood concluded.” The other thing that is driving the cases is clearly their spread due to the positive test rate. But we did 143,000 tests on Saturday. When the Governor eight weeks ago said that We were going to triple the number of tests performed per day in the state from 10,000 to 30,000 per day, people thought he was crazy. “
Video and transcript below:
Great context from Dr. Charles Lockwood, Senior Vice President of @USFHealth pic.twitter.com/nHLzDemwqV
– Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) July 13, 2020
CNN HOST JOHN KING: Hospitals are now warning that their ICU capacity is dangerously depleting. Here with me to discuss the Florida situation is Dr. Charles Lockwood, senior vice president of health at the University of South Florida and also dean of the Morsani College of Medicine. Dr. Lockwood, thank you very much for joining us.
Simply, when you look at these numbers, 15,000 yesterday, 12,000 more today, I know that experts have repeatedly told us that it is not just the case count, but you are also beginning to see the stress of the hospital. Where is Florida? How big is a problem, the crisis? What is the correct word?
DR. CHARLES LOCKWOOD, VICE PRESIDENT OF USF HEALTH, TAMPA: Yes, well, it’s complicated. We’ve had a 5x increase now 5.4 times in cases since June 10th. We have had increases of approximately three times in hospitalizations and increases of approximately 2.5 times in deaths. Each death is terrible, but it is a different epidemic than New York.
We have a much younger population that is being diagnosed and we are much better prepared. Obviously, we have had three months to prepare, so we have a lot of capacity to increase. When you get those ICU numbers, they don’t really reflect all of the ICU emergency capacity that hospitals have created.
For example, Tampa General has 87 additional fans available that we haven’t started using yet. But the most striking thing is our case fatality rate, which has decreased and decreased. Now it’s 1.5 percent, so these are cases, deaths by cases.
It is one of the lowest in the country and, in fact, in Tampa, in Hillsborough County, today, a few minutes ago, it fell to less than 1 percent. We have a case fatality rate of less than 1 percent, so much of that reflects the younger population, most of the people we are diagnosing are between the ages of 15 and 44.
Most of the people in the hospital, in the ICU, are between 55 and 85 years old. Therefore, the other thing is that we are much better able to take care of them in the hospital. We have Remdesivir We have dexamethasone; we have convalescent plasma therapy and we do much better ventilation work.
There are a couple of other reasons why I’m not as pessimistic as maybe some people you’ve heard. One is that we appear to have peaked about a week ago on visits to the emergency department for COVID-like illnesses and also for influenza-like illnesses.
The other is that our horrible positive test rate, which was 20 percent 10 days ago, was actually 20 percent even on July 7, 8, 8, now it has dropped to around 11 percent. So that’s trending in the right direction.
The other thing that is driving the cases is clearly their spread due to the positive test rate. But we did 143,000 tests on Saturday. When the Governor eight weeks ago said that we were going to triple the number of tests performed per day in the state from 10,000 to 30,000 per day, people thought he was crazy.
We did 143,000 tests on Saturday. So that will increase the cases because we are collecting the pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic cases, but we are expanding. No doubt about it. The positive test rate had been 3 percent at one point and is now 11 percent.
KING: Well I certainly hope you’re right in finding those data points that suggest that perhaps the worst is over. At least it’s manageable. We will keep in touch as it develops. Dr. Lockwood, I really appreciate your ideas today. And most importantly, best of luck as you fight this in the days and weeks ahead, sir, thank you.
The following for us, a source close to the White House Coronavirus Task Force told CNN that some schools should delay its reopening, the President does not seem to agree with that.
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