Sarasota Memorial's Covid-19 Patient Census Is the Highest It's Ever Been
Sarasota Memorial Hospital is reporting five new deaths and 239 hospitalized Covid-19 patients—109 more than its record of 130 Covid-positive patients in July 2020. Of those 239 patients, 52 are in the ICU and 34 are on ventilators. The hospital's current positivity rate is 18.9 percent.
SMH is also reporting that 89 percent of the 239 Covid patients in the hospital are not vaccinated. In a graphic shared on the hospital's social media on Monday, Aug. 16, the hospital offered a real-time look at vaccination data. "You can plainly see that Covid-19 vaccines are preventing severe illness," the hospital's team wrote.
Florida is currently averaging 29,711 Covid cases per day, the highest in the country. In Sarasota County, the average is 340 cases per day; in Manatee County, it's 378 cases per day.
