Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Amid vaccine rollout, Florida’s numbers continue to deteriorate
While Gov. Ron DeSantis has turned his focus to vaccine distribution, all COVID-19 metrics — cases, deaths, positivity rates and hospitalizations — are worsening for the state, according to a daily report issued by the White House COVID-19 Task Force.
The report now lists Florida as one of 33 states in the red zone, with a 32% jump in new cases and 20% increase in deaths compared to the prior week, according to the Community Profile Report for Jan. 4.
The state’s positivity rate is now 13.7%, the report shows. Two weeks ago, the state was in the orange zone with a positivity rate of 10%.
The report also lists the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford metro area among regions with an increased burden of COVID-19. The area has had a 43% increase in cases and 30% increase in deaths compared with the prior week, with a 13.4% positivity rate.
The report further breaks down data by county, ranking Orange County 26th in the nation for the number of cases in the previous seven days. The county has had a 46% increase in cases compared to the prior week and a 69% increase in deaths.
At AdventHealth Centra Care clinics, COVID-19 positivity rates increased sharply last week, reaching a new high of 18.5% for antigen testing, according to an internal email obtained by the Orlando Sentinel.
“Excluding asymptomatic patients, the positivity rate goes up to 29%, which means the odds are strong that a sick patient at Centra Care will have COVID19,” AdventHealth officials wrote.
In an email to the Orlando Sentinel on Tuesday, Dr. Raul Pino, health officer for the Florida Department of Health in Orange County, said that he was “very concerned for what is to come, even as we are engaged in vaccinations.”
He advised the public to follow the CDC recommendations, including wearing masks, social distancing and hand washing.
Alan Harris, Seminole County’s emergency manager, said many of the new cases are from holiday gatherings.
“In some cases, family units are sick together,” he said in an email on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, DeSantis has not addressed the worsening spread of the virus or advised the public to wear masks and practice physical distancing during his recent news briefings about the COVID-19 vaccine. On Twitter, the Florida Department of Health has barely promoted mask-wearing since late September.
On Monday, when asked about experts warning that group gatherings can increase coronavirus cases, DeSantis said, “We trust people to make decisions. I think this idea of browbeating everybody, I just don’t think it’s been effective nationwide to me. I just don’t think it’s been effective nationwide.”
DeSantis also hasn’t addressed or recognized increased hospitalizations statewide, which are now about two-thirds of where they were at the July peak, instead tasking hospitals with vaccinating older adults quickly.
On Monday, AdventHealth changed its status color code from green to yellow based on staff and resource availability in Central Florida and after a “significant jump” in the number of COVID patients over the weekend.
The health system’s yellow status means deferring new elective cases that require hospital admission and having a designated individual to review all scheduled elective inpatient cases that will require ICU beds. All outpatient procedures and surgeries and all pediatric surgeries will continue as scheduled.
The White House reports shows that in the week of Dec. 28 to Jan. 3, 14% of the state’s inpatient hospital beds wereoccupied withCOVID19 patients. Coronavirus patients also occupied 22% of the state’s ICU beds, increasing from the previous week.
Nationwide, new hospital admission and new cases are at an all-time high, while the average number of deaths per day is as high as the peak in April, the report shows.
Most of the country, including almost all of Florida, are now considered “sustained hotspots” with a high sustained case burden and potentially at a higher risk of experience healthcare resource limitations.