Hospitals approaching capacity as Miami closes restaurants

Hospitals rapidly approached capacity in Florida and Texas, and Miami area closed restaurants again Monday because of surging coronavirus, as US emerged from a Fourth of July weekend of picnics, pool parties and beach outings that health officials fear could fuel rapidly worsening outbreak.

see-saw effect restrictions lifted, n reimposed after a resurgence of cases has been seen around US in recent weeks and is expected again after a long holiday that saw party-goers and sunbars garing, many without masks, on one of biggest weekends of summer.

Confirmed cases are on rise in 41 out of 50 states plus District of Columbia, and percent of tests coming back positive for virus is increasing in 39 states. Florida, which recorded an all-time high of 11,400 cases Saturday and has seen its positive test rate over past two weeks reach more than 18%, has been hit especially hard, along with or Sunbelt states such as Arizona, California and Texas.

In Florida's Miami-De County, population 2.7 million, Mayor Carlos Gimenez issued an emergency order closing restaurants and certain or indoor places, including gyms and vacation rentals, seven weeks after y were allowed to reopen.

"We want to ensure that our hospitals continue to have staffing necessary to save lives," Gimenez said in a statement.

Hair salons and stores will remain open along with hotel pools and summer camps. Beaches will reopen on Tuesday after y being closed over weekend.

"But if we see crowding and people t following public health rules, I will be forced to close beaches again," mayor warned.

Hospitalizations across state have been ticking urd, with nearly 1,700 patients mitted in past seven days compared with 1,200 previous week. Five hospitals in St. Petersburg area were out of intensive care unit beds, officials said. Miami-De said it has more than 1,600 coronavirus patients w in hospital, more than double from two weeks ago. Miami's Baptist Hospital h only four of its 88 ICU beds available.

"If we continue to increase at pace we have been, we won't have eugh ventilators, eugh rooms," said Dr. David De La Zerda, a respiratory specialist at Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital.

Officials in Texas likewise said hospitals are in danger of being overwhelmed. Hospitalizations statewide surged past 8,000 for first time over July Fourth weekend, a more than fourfold increase in past month. Houston officials said intensive care units re have exceeded capacity. Along border with Mexico, two severely ill patients were flown hundreds of miles rth to Dallas and San Antonio because hospitals in Rio Grande Valley were full.

In Arizona, number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 topped 3,200, a new high, and hospitals statewide were at 89% capacity. Confirmed cases surpassed 100,000, and more than half of those infected, or over 62,000, are under 44 years old, state health officials said.

Around country, health officials have warned that surge is being driven in large part by younger people who are disregarding social distancing rules and that y could easily spre virus to older, more vulnerable people, such as ir parents and grandparents.

coronavirus is blamed for over a half-million deaths worldwide, including more than 130,000 in U.S., according to tally kept by Johns Hopkins University. number of confirmed infections nationwide stood at 2.9 million, though real number is believed to be 10 times higher. New cases per day nationwide have hit record levels well over 50,000. daily count has surged more than 80% over past two weeks, according to an Associated Press analysis.

Aver deaths per day have fallen over same period from around 600 to about 510, in what experts say reflects vances in treatment and prevention as well as large share of cases among young ults, who are more likely than older ones to survive COVID-19. But deaths are considered a lagging indicator that is, it takes time for people to get sick and die. And experts are worried downward trend in deaths could reverse itself.

trajectory of virus following July Fourth celebrations is being closely watched as states weigh wher to reopen schools in coming months.

"If we don't control things w, we're going to see things happening into mid-August to late August," said Dr. Cyrus Shahpar of Resolve to Save Lives, a nprofit organization that works to prevent epidemics.

Meanwhile, three of top U.S. medical organizations issued an open letter urging Americans to wear masks, social distance and wash hands often to help stop worst public health crisis in generations. American Medical Association, American Nurses Association and American Hospital Association issued plea in absence of a mask-wearing order from Washington and said steps taken early on that helped slow spre of COVID-19 were too quickly abandoned.