Miami Healthcare workers battle Covid-19 hike, non-compliance with safety precautions

Healthcare workers in Miami has been struggling to cope with the coronavirus spikes ravaging Florida.

Hospitals also battle the emotional and physical impact of treating COVID-19 patients.

It was reported on Monday July 27, 2020, not less than 10,000 new cases are recorded on a daily basis.

The daily record has become a norm across the state in July. Many of those on the frontlines are frustrated with the apparent inability of local, state, and federal governments to coordinate an adequate response.

They also expressed their dissatisfaction about the reluctance or refusal of many Floridians to honor safety precautions to stop the spread of coronavirus.

“I know, and my colleagues know, that we’re putting a Band-Aid on a problem, we’re supporting people as best we can to get them through, but the real fight happens outside,” said Dr. Eric Knott, a pulmonary and critical care fellow working in three of Miami’s largest hospitals.

“If you can’t stop the spread, all of my work is for nothing,” he added.

For Miami doctors, concerns about the virus far surpass those stirred up by even the largest hurricanes.

“A hurricane tends to be a sort of finite amount, and this is infinite,” said Dr. Mark Supino, an attending physician in Jackson Memorial Hospital’s emergency department.

Many healthcare workers and union leaders were critical of Miami’s reopening several weeks after the number of cases of the novel coronavirus first began rising in early March.

On Friday, state health officials reported a total of 402,312 cases across Florida, with 135 new deaths bringing the total to more than 5,600.

While the death toll in South Florida has not approached that of New York City, an early epicenter of the U.S. outbreak, hospital beds and intensive care units across the region have filled to capacity, and in some cases surpassed it.