The Monroe County public health department said two people died of COVID-19 on Monday, bringing the death toll in the county to 8.
"I share in the sorrow of their family, friends and our entire community," public health commissioner Dr. Michael Mendoza said in a statement.
Of the 42 people hospitalized for COVID-19 treatment in Monroe County, 25 of them were in an intensive care unit on Monday, according to data from the health department.
ICUs treat the most severe cases of the disease, providing oxygen through ventilators and monitoring a range of data that a typical hospital floor cannot track.
Doctors say most patients who are hospitalized for COVID-19 will need some supplemental oxygen, but data from Monroe County increasingly show that patients are often moved to the ICU, where staff can care for more critically ill cases.
The county's two hospital systems are planning to increase the number of COVID-19 patients they can treat in their facilities, but expanding ICU capacity is more difficult than adding other hospital beds.
Still, hospital leaders said they have enough capacity for now, as long as distancing measures continue to slow the spread of the coronavirus locally.
There were 34 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Monroe County Monday, and the number of total cases in the county had doubled over the last five days.
One of the cases confirmed Monday was a girl under the age of 10. Seven of the cases were in people 70 or older.
