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Abstract：
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.
摘要：
在COVID-19大流行期间，全球的医疗设施因需要为冠状病毒患者提供服务的数量而不堪重负。同样，美国也经历了医疗资源的短缺，这导致整个医疗系统的效率降低。为了从运输的角度评估这一点，了解在城市和农村地区有多大程度上可提供带重症监护病房(ICU)床位的医疗设施至关重要.因此，本研究旨在评估COVID-19患者进入佛罗里达州医疗机构的空间可及性.为此,使用了两种方法：两步浮动集水区（2SFCA）和增强两步浮动集水区（E2SFCA）。这些方法用于识别整个状态中的高和低访问区域。此外，一个度量，即可达性比率差异(ARD)，是为了评估模型之间的空间访问差异而开发的。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交通通道较低。佛罗里达州中部的居民(例如，坦帕和奥兰多城市）的可访问性最高，因为它们的访问率较高。我们还观察到，由于集水区内人口的“平等访问”假设，2SFCA方法高估了ICU病床数量较少的地区的可访问性。这项研究的结果可以为公共卫生领域的州官员和决策者提供有价值的见解和信息。
