Seminole sees decline in COVID-19 cases
Officials warn about variants despite drop
Marking nearly one year since declaring the coronavirus pandemic a county emergency, Seminole health officials on Tuesday pointed to a steady decline in the number of COVID19 cases within the past month as a growing number of residents become vaccinated.
They added, however, that it’s still “premature” for the public to start easing mask and social distancing restrictions as highly-contagious variants of the virus continue to spread nationwide and less than one fifth of the county’s population has received a vaccine.
“It’s just very, very clear that we are still in the middle of a pandemic,” said Dr. Todd Husty, Seminole’s medical director. “It is a devilish virus…. It only knows
how to replicate and get into other people.”
On March 7, the county recorded 52 positive cases, a drop of 79 cases a month earlier, and 170 fewer positive cases from Jan. 7, according to county health data.
Hospitalizations also have dropped. On Tuesday, 67 people were being treated at hospitals within Seminole. Whereas a month ago, there were 89 hospitalizations.
Seminole has had a total of 442 deaths related to the virus, including 57 since Feb. 5, according to data from Seminole’s office of the Florida Department of Health. About 88% of those deaths were people 65 years and older, said Donna Walsh, Seminole’s officer for the state’s Department of Health.
“There are signs of hope here, of improvement,” Walsh said about the data.
But Walsh and other county officials cautioned that only 64,372 residents — just over 16% of the county’s population of 487,000 — have been vaccinated as of Tuesday.
At least 70% of the population would have to be vaccinated to achieve so-called “herd immunity,” or the point when such a large portion of people have become immune to COVID-19 through vaccination or previous infections that the spread of the disease is minimal.
“We still have a long way to go, of course,” Walsh said.
Current vaccines were developed when variants of the virus now circulating the world were still undiscovered. And it’s still unknown with certainty how effectively current vaccines protect against those variants — including UK, South Africa and Brazil variants. Seminole currently has 13 cases of the U.K variant B.1.1.7 virus, according to the Health Department. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, those variants spread more easily and quickly.
“The variants are concerning,” Husty said. “But if we can get enough people vaccinated, and we continue to mask and social distance” then it would continue to significantly reduce the number of cases to a “manageable number.”
Commissioner Amy Lockhart said county officials should start “talking about the finish line” regarding the pandemic. She said the county should set a “goal post” as to how many positive cases there would need to be for life to return to normal.
“Our community — the reasonable people in the middle — are starting to give up,” she said. “They’re done. It’s been a year. And I think we owe it to them, and we owe it to ourselves, about what the finish line looks like.”
County Manager Nicole Guillet said her staff relies on the advice of county’s medical experts and hospital officials, who currently recommend “staying the course.” Otherwise, hospitals could be overrun with a new surge of cases, she said.
“While we are making progress, we are asking the public to stick with us a little longer,” Guillet said.
Seminole requires facial coverings be worn at businesses, places of assembly and other public areas.
In neighboring Orange County, Mayor Jerry Demings said last week that he would consider lifting his county’s mask mandate in public places after 50% of Orange’s 1.4 million or so residents have been vaccinated.
Also at Tuesday’s commission meeting: Guillet announced that Seminole County government expects to receive $92 million from the $350 billion earmarked for state and local governments as part of the American Rescue Plan pandemic relief bill expected to pass Congress and signed by President Joe Biden this week.
The first half of the money would be distributed within 60 days and the second half no earlier than a year later. Seminole would have until Dec. 31, 2024 to spend the money on COVID-19 relief measures, including rental assistance.
“That gives us the opportunity to do a little more planning and a lot less being frantic in getting that money out the door,” she said of the nearly fouryear deadline. “There’s a lot going on in our community that qualifies for that money.”