VACCINATING FLORIDA
A Florida resident gets vaccinated at the drive-thru site at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando on Monday. The Florida Department of Health continues to administer COVID-19 vaccinations at the convention center’s North Concourse. Additional FEMA vaccination sites will open starting next week in Orlando and other Florida cities.
Health officials announced Monday that more than 30,000 Floridians have died of COVID19, but hospitalizations and cases have continued to drop, mirroring the national trend.
With the addition of 159 more reported fatalities, Florida’s Department of Health said that 30,065 state residents have died. With 530 non-Florida resident deaths, including two new reported Monday, the state’s combined total stands at 30,595.
Each report includes deaths from several previous days, as it can take weeks and sometimes several months for reports to appear.
The state also added 4,151 more positive COVID-19 cases to bring the total to 1,872,923.
Florida has seen about one in 714 of its residents die from the virus, while nationally it’s closer to one in 658 people, and worldwide it’s at about one in 3,158 of the planet’s 7.8 billion population.
With a population of about 21.5 million, about one in 11 people in the state have now been infected. That number is closer to one in 12 nationally and one in 70 worldwide.
Across the state, 4,175 people were hospitalized with COVID19 as of 2 p.m. Monday including 218 in Orange County, 106 in Osceola, 88 in Lake and 74 in Seminole. The state’s online tool updates several times throughout the day.
To date, 79,096 people have been hospitalized in Florida, according to the state’s report, which includes 150 newly reported hospitalizations since Sunday’s update.
Central Florida added 795 cases on Monday for a total of 329,760: That includes 275 more
for another month at Barnett Park, 4801 W. Colonial Dr.
The drive-through site operated seven days a week by Orange County Health Services was slated to end Feb. 28. It offers both PCR molecular tests and rapid tests.
The county’s positivity rate over the past 14 days has steadily dropped to about 6.3%, close to the 5% mark at which health experts consider the virus under control.
Aldric Simmonds, a surgeon and chief health equity officer at AdventHealth, attended the briefing to encourage eligible people of color to get vaccinated.
He said he understood hesitancy in some communities because of historic abuses that included unauthorized medical experiments on unsuspecting Black men.
“But each day you wait is [like] playing Russian roulette,” said Simmonds, who is Black. “This is the way forward for us out of this pandemic, to get back to life as we know it.”
He said he was hopeful more minorities would trust the vaccination process.
“The reality of it, I think, in those communities is they know people who have been in the ICU and so they get it,” he said.
Alvina Chu, an infectious-disease epidemiologist with the state Health Department in Orange County, said an organized effort is pushing the vaccine into communities where access to medical care is often limited. The effort includes “mobile distributions teams” to reach areas where residents may not have transportation or Internet service.
Orange County firefighters and paramedics have administered over 4,600 doses in special closed pods for seniors.
Demings said state health statistics show about 46% of county residents age 65 and older have gotten at least one shot of the vaccine.
“The higher the percentage goes up, the less demand there will be [for people 65 and older],” he said. “At some point from a planning strategy, there will have to be an adjustment. We still have a significant ways to go to get the 65-plus inoculated and we’re doing everything that we can. But as the supply increases, you’re going to see [adjustments.]”
Demings said he expected the county’s community health centers to come online with vaccination appointments soon, perhaps as early as this week.
The county has a plan ready when more vaccines become available.
“At this point we’re only limited by the supply.” he said.
Seniors unable to find transportation to the convention center vaccination site may qualify for a free ride from LYNX.
Eligible residents must be 65 or older; have a vaccination appointment; and no other way to get to the site.
Rides to the convention center site only can be arranged through the county helpline at 311.
Transportation appointments must be made 48 hours in advance of a scheduled vaccine appointment.
Unscramble these letters to form four ordinary words.