EMERGENCIES ONLY

Residents Urged to Use 911 ‘Sparingly’ in COVID-Ravaged Florida County

Brevard County’s fire rescue chief has begged residents to only use the emergency line if they require urgent assistance, as hospitals and crews are overrun.

The terrifying new wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Florida has gotten so bad that residents of one big county are being urged to use 911 sparingly to give responders more bandwidth to deal with medical emergencies. According to Florida Today, Brevard County Fire Rescue Chief Mark Schollmeyer has begged residents to only call 911 if they require urgent assistance so hospitals are more able to handle the spike in medical emergencies. “Our BCFR ambulances are seeing an increase in hospital times due to not being able to turn patients over to hospital staff,” he said. “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.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data says that Florida recorded 15,322 new COVID-19 cases on Monday. That was nearly 17 percent of the nation’s new cases, according to the Miami Herald.