Why the surge in Covid in Florida is related to water supply (hint: oxygen)

Wednesday, the Tampa Bay Water Company Announce A rather strange side effect of the out-of-control Covid surge in Florida: It did not get enough liquid oxygen to treat water.There are now more than 17,000 Covid patients who need supplemental oxygen to sustain their lives Hospitalized in JeonjuAnd there is not enough oxygen Move around.

Even if vaccines are widely available, the pandemic is worse than ever in Florida.The country is surpassing on average 20,000 cases and more than 200 deaths One day, it brought incredible pressure to its hospital system.It’s over half The total population of Florida has been fully vaccinated.

Tampa Bay Water Company spokesperson Brandon Moore said: “What we know is that the lack of liquid oxygen is due to a shortage of drivers and the need to transfer available supplies to local hospitals due to the Covid-19 pandemic.” (sent to Their oxygen supplier Matheson Tri-Gas did not immediately respond to their request for comment.) This is when the mayor of Orlando asked residents to Restrict water For the same reason.

Add water issues to the list of consequences of the pandemic that is now major hospitalization UnvaccinatedThis means less space and resources for non-Covid patients appearing in emergency rooms, and the system that provides clean water to Floridians now requires less oxygen.

But why do you need more oxygen in your body₂Oh? The Tampa Bay waterwheel converts liquid oxygen into gas, and then adds electric sparks to convert it into ozone. Moore said this is used for two different purposes in two separate facilities: in a surface water treatment plant, ozone can kill nasty things such as bacteria and viruses, while in another plant, it breaks down hydrogen sulfide. This is a naturally occurring gas that smells like rotten eggs.

The utility company needs a lot of liquid oxygen-7 to 9 tankers a week, between these two facilities-to disinfect the water and make sure it does not flow out of the tap and give off hellish odor. “The liquid oxygen that is converted to ozone is one of the most powerful-if not the most powerful-disinfectants in the water industry,” Moore said.

Moore said that Tampa Bay Water’s liquid oxygen supply has been cut by about half. Therefore, they transferred the oxygen they obtained to the treatment plant to fully disinfect the water because they could not change the process. However, they can replace the ozone in the factory with sodium hypochlorite (also known as bleach) to remove hydrogen sulfide. But in view of the crisis, the utility company asked customers to reduce water consumption, such as watering lawns and washing cars. “In this case, the less water needed means less water needs to be treated,” Moore said. However, he added, “it is very important to let residents know that the quality of drinking water is still safe.”

At the same time, it is very important for Covid patients to get the supplemental oxygen they need. Covid-19 destroys the lungs and interferes with the transfer of oxygen from the air to the blood, which is necessary to keep the heart, brain, and other vital organs working properly. The target oxygen saturation of the blood is above 92%-below 90%, and you will start to feel shortness of breath. (In the hospital, they measure this by sliding a device called a pulse oximeter on the patient’s finger, which emits a light beam to non-invasively measure the oxygen in their blood.) Once the saturation drops to 90 % Below, doctors should place patients with Covid-19 supplemental oxygen, Suggest Desease control Centre.