During the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare facilities worldwide have been overwhelmed by the amount of coronavirus patients needed to be served. Similarly, the U.S. also experienced a shortage of healthcare resources, which led to a reduction in the efficiency of the whole healthcare system. In order to evaluate this from a transportation perspective, it is critical to understand the extent to which healthcare facilities with intensive care unit (ICU) beds are available in both urban and rural areas. As such, this study aims to assess the spatial accessibility of COVID-19 patients to healthcare facilities in the State of Florida. For this purpose, two methods were used: the two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) and the enhanced two-step floating catchment area (E2SFCA). These methods were applied to identify the high and low access areas in the entire state. Furthermore, a metric, namely the Accessibility Ratio Difference (ARD), was developed to evaluate the spatial access difference between the models. Results revealed that many areas in the northwest and southern Florida have lower access compared to other locations. The residents in central Florida (e.g., Tampa and Orlando cities) had the highest level of accessibility given their higher access ratios. We also observed that the 2SFCA method overestimates the accessibility in the areas with a lower number of ICU beds due to the “equal access” assumption of the population within the catchment area. The findings of this study can provide valuable insights and information for state officials and decision makers in the field of public health.

在 COVID-19 大流行期间，世界各地的医疗机构因需要服务的冠状病毒患者数量而不堪重负。同样，美国也经历了医疗资源的短缺，导致整个医疗体系的效率下降。为了从交通角度评估这一点，了解城市和农村地区拥有重症监护病房 (ICU) 床位的医疗机构的可用程度至关重要。因此，本研究旨在评估佛罗里达州 COVID-19 患者前往医疗机构的空间可达性。为此，使用了两种方法：两步浮动集水区（2SFCA）和增强型两步浮动集水区（E2SFCA）。这些方法用于识别整个州的高访问区域和低访问区域。此外，还开发了一个指标，即可达性比率差异（ARD）来评估模型之间的空间可达性差异。结果显示，与其他地区相比，佛罗里达州西北部和南部的许多地区的通行率较低。佛罗里达州中部（例如坦帕和奥兰多城市）的居民由于其较高的通达率而具有最高的通达水平。我们还观察到，由于对流域内人口的“平等准入”假设，2SFCA 方法高估了 ICU 床位数量较少的地区的可达性。这项研究的结果可以为公共卫生领域的国家官员和决策者提供有价值的见解和信息。