Amendment 1 to Emergency Order 02-21

WHEREAS, section 252.38(3)(a), Florida Statutes, gives a political subdivision the authority to declare and enact a Local State of Emergency for a period of up to seven days, thereby waiving the procedures and formalities otherwise required of the political subdivision by law; and

WHEREAS, on March 12, 2020, the County Mayor declared a Local State of Emergency for all of Miami-Dade County, which has been subsequently extended every seven days; and

WHEREAS, effective vaccines against COVID-19 have been widely available for several months; and

WHEREAS, the Delta variant of the virus, also known as the B.1.617.2. variant, is highly contagious, and is estimated to account for more than 90 percent of new infections in the United States; and

WHEREAS, test positivity rate in Miami-Dade County, as measured on a seven day average, is currently 14.3 percent; and

WHEREAS, in the past week, over 15,000 individuals in Miami-Dade County tested positive for COVID-19; and

WHEREAS, according to data from the Florida Department of Health, there were over 134,000 COVID-19 positive cases in Florida for the reporting period ending August 5th, an increase of 18.9 percent over the prior period; and

WHEREAS, the County needs timely and accurate information to ensure its efforts to combat the virus are effective; and

WHEREAS, this Amendment requires hospitals, as part of their daily reporting, to provide information regarding the age, gender, and race of COVID-19 patients admitted to such hospital; and

WHEREAS, this additional demographic information will assist the County in targeting vaccine, testing, and safety information and resources to those groups most at risk,

THEREFORE, as County Mayor of Miami-Dade County, I hereby order:

A. Emergency Order 02-21 is hereby amended and restated as follows:

1. Commencing on July 30, 2021, each hospital shall report to the Miami-Dade COVID-19 Reporting Hub once a day, by 10:00 a.m., the following information to the County: (1) current staffed inventory of General Acute Care beds (does not include OB, pediatric or specialty/rehab); (2) current staffed inventory of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds; (3) total number of unused beds at the hospital which could be converted to be used as ICU beds; (4) total number of beds that can be converted to General Acute Care beds; (5) total number of ventilators in hospital inventory; (6) total number of ventilators in use for all patients (including patients not admitted for COVID-19); (7) total COVID-19 positive patients admitted; (8) total COVID-19 positive patients in ICU beds; (9) total COVID-19 positive patients in non-ICU beds; (10) total COVID-19 positive patients currently on a ventilator, (11) new COVID-19 positive patients admitted since the prior day’s reporting; (12) COVID-19 positive patients discharged since the prior day’s reporting; (13) if available, the number of COVID-19 positive patients admitted who had been fully vaccinated (two weeks post final dose); (14) if available, the number of COVID-19 positive patients admitted who were unvaccinated or not yet fully vaccinated (two weeks post final dose); and (15) the age, gender, and race of each COVID-19 positive patient admitted that day.

2. Each hospital shall be responsible for providing the above information solely with respect to its physical campus. No hospital shall transmit any individually identifiable patient health information which may not be disclosed pursuant to federal or state law. If a hospital believes that all or some of this information is trade secret, as defined in Florida Statutes, the hospital shall expressly indicate this when it transmits this information.

B. This order shall be effective as of 1:00 p.m., August 13, 2021.

C. This order shall expire upon the expiration of the existing Miami-Dade County of Local State of Emergency, provided however that if the Local State of Emergency is extended, this order shall also be deemed to extend for the duration of such extension. This order may be cancelled earlier by action of the County Mayor.

D. This order shall be provided to all appropriate media consistent with the requirements of section 8B-7(2)(n) of the Code of Miami-Dade County, to all hospitals within Miami-Dade County, and to the Board of County Commissioners consistent with the requirements of section 8B-7(3).