The COVID-19 numbers continue to rise in Florida to the point that hospitals across the state are overwhelmed with major staffing shortages and ICUs filled to complete capacity. Now there’s another benchmark for just how bad things have gotten: the quality of the state’s drinking water.

At a press conference late last week, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer urged residents to cut down on their water usage or risk seeing a decline in its quality.

Hospitals are being flooded with unvaccinated, critically ill patients, many of whom need liquid oxygen for their respiratory treatment. Liquid oxygen is also needed for water purification, and if people don’t reduce their water usage, there might not be enough to go around. Since the priority is to treat the critically ill, that means people are likely to see their water quality decline if there’s a shortage.

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer announces today water restrictions, since liquid oxygen is needed to treat “the highest number of unvaccinated, critically-ill patients” since the pandemic began. He says water treatment plants are used, and the water quality will be impaired soon. pic.twitter.com/gZWEtI65en

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) August 20, 2021

As Rolling Stone notes, “The oxygen shortage is not limited to Florida. There is a lack of supply nationwide, driven by the pandemic and made worse by a shortage of available tanker trucks and drivers required to transport it.”

However, Florida is leading the way in terms of new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.

Meanwhile, Governor Ron DeSantis continues to fight mask mandates as he focuses on monoclonal antibody treatments for people who have already tested positive for COVID-19.

the 2024 gop frontrunner is in charge of a city running out of oxygen

— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) August 24, 2021

(via Rolling Stone, image: Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images)

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The post Florida’s COVID-19 Crisis Is So Bad, It’s Affecting the Water first appeared on The Mary Sue.