Orlando, FL - AdventHealth's Centra Care Medical Director, Dr. Tim Hendrix, shared information today (March 25) on the latest COVID-19 trends, variants, and the different vaccines available.
Hendrix says that COVID-19 testing positivity rates are on the increase after being at a plateau the last couple of weeks. "Over the last seven days, we've seen a 16 percent increase over the previous seven days in the number of positive patients coming into Centra Care, which is a concern. We're hopeful that will not continue but the reality is that it probably will."
Another issue is the effect that Spring Breakers, a lot of them in Florida, will have on the positivity rate for the virus. "We're at that crossroads of getting people vaccinated but also, we're seeing more people not adhering to the safety measures of social distancing and face-masking. We have that potential to have an increase."
Hendrix said as the eligibility age drops he's seeing a lot of pent-up demand for the vaccine. He said that's encouraging but we need to focus on the people that are most at risk. Social distancing and mask-wearing in the absence of the vaccine still work. Hendrix said a possible success story for those over 65, who are most likely to be hospitalized, is with the number of people being vaccinated, the number of hospitalizations will drop.
