“As COVID-19 patient counts continue to soar in Brevard County – swamping local hospitals to near breaking point – some in the medical and emergency management sectors paint an increasingly dire picture of the situation. All three hospital systems in the county are over capacity, and are continuing to deal with a strong surge in patients, Brevard County Emergency Management Director John Scott said. Brevard County Communications Director Don Walker said county officials are now working with the hospital systems to identify potential sites outside the hospitals to house patients, should the surge reach a level at which they run out of space and can no longer handle the patient counts. In addition, medical surge tents have been set up outside some local hospitals, and are being used for patient care. ‘Everybody’s being stressed to their limits, with the hospitals at or above capacity,’ said Dr. Adam Fier, president of the Brevard County Medical Society. ‘But everybody’s banding together and doing what we can to keep people as healthy as possible.'”

“The surge in COVID-19 cases also prompted Brevard County Fire Rescue Chief Mark Schollmeyer to urge residents to stop calling 9-1-1 for non-emergency calls, so as to leave hospital emergency room staff and facilities – and BCFR crews – to handle the urgent medical emergencies. ‘Our BCFR ambulances are seeing an increase in hospital times due to not being able to turn patients over to hospital staff,’ Schollmeyer said, referring to ERs filled with patients suffering from COVID-19 symptoms. ‘We continue to ask that people use 9-1-1 sparingly for non-emergent issues and to save the ambulances and ER trips for those who urgently need those services'” – Florida Today.