The mayor of Orlando called on residents to stop watering their lawns and washing their cars immediately because liquid oxygen normally used by water treatment plants is now being diverted to hospitals to treat patients amid the recent surge of COVID-19 cases.
'We acknowledge that the No 1 priority for the liquid oxygen should be for hospitals,' Mayor Buddy Dyer said at a news conference on Friday.
The Orlando Utility Commission typically goes through 10 trucks of liquid oxygen a week in the process of cleaning the city's drinking water in a process known as ozonation.
But its supplier recently said that it would be cut back to five to seven trucks a week to accommodate hospitals, said Linda Ferrone, OUC's chief customer and marketing officer.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer (pictured) asked residents to stop watering their lawns and washing their cars for a least a week, saying water usage needed to be cut back because of the recent surge of COVID-19 hospitalizations
About 40 percent of the utility commission's potable water is used for irrigation so any strains on the water supply will be greatly reduced if residents stop watering their lawns, washing their cars or using pressure washers, she said.
On its website, the utility said residents should prepare to follow the conservation measures for at least two weeks.
'We realize this is drastic and unprecedented,' Ferrone said. 'If worse came to worse, we would have to look at a boil water alert.'
Since the 1990s, the utility has used liquid oxygen to remove the slight discoloration and rotten-egg smell that is found naturally in Florida's water supply.
Nationally and locally the demand for liquid oxygen is high as COVID-19 has surged and Dyer said there could be impacts to the water quality if the city doesn't reduce the amount of water it needs to treat.
'We're trying to get out ahead of this,' he said.
Florida is one of the state's bearing the brunt of the nation's COVID-19 surge as it became the third state in the U.S. to reach 3 million cases of COVID-19, now surpassing 15 countries in the world
'It's another result of what happens when people don't get vaccinated, become critically ill and require medical treatment,' Dyer said 'If you haven't been vaccinated, now is the time.'
Officials at one of the Orlando area's largest health care systems said this week that they had 1,620 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, twice the level of what it was during last winter's peak high for AdventHealth.
Recognized as one of the best hospital's in Florida, AdventHealth Orlando hospital officials reported they were elevating to level red with a full ICU and more than 900 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Central Florida.
The hospital system's inpatient totals have risen to near January's record as the delta variant surges in the state
AdventHealth hospital officials reported they were elevating to level red with a full ICU and more than 900 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Central Florida. The hospital system's inpatient totals have risen to near January's record as the delta variant surges in the state
'This is unfortunately a crisis of unprecedented proportions,' said Dr. Vincent Hsu, executive director of infection prevention and epidemiologist at AdventHealth.
Florida became the third state in the U.S. to reach three million coronavirus cases, a total surpassed by only 15 countries in the world.
Cases in the state slightly dipped this past week, with 150,740 compared to 151,764 two weeks ago, but deaths were on the rise.
The Sunshine state saw 1,486 COVID-related deaths this last week compared to 1,071 two weeks ago.
Florida reported an all-time death record, with 1,486 deaths in the past week – nearly 15% above the previous record of 1,296 deaths in a week of January, according to USA Today.
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