COVID-19 is down but record number of sick impact Brevard County hospitals, officials say
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Local officials announced Friday that while COVID-19 infection rates have dropped slightly since last week, the relatively high numbers of sick people continue to impact Brevard County hospitals and schools.
After weeks of continued recording breaking COVID-19 case rates, hospitals county wide have seen an increase in ICU hospitalizations, John Davis, Florida Department of Health- Brevard community health nursing director said.
Though Davis said he did not know how many individuals were hospitalized countywide, according to data from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, from Jan. 12 to Jan. 18, there were 273 patients admitted to hospitals countywide. CDC figures also showed that the average percent of ICU beds in Brevard County used over the last seven days has gone up by 7.75% with an average of 24.83% of available ICU beds used as of Jan. 18.
Davis said the increase could put further pressure on Space Coast hospitals already suffering county-wide health care staffing issues.
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After Davis's warning at the emergency management meeting, about three hours later Parrish Medical Center in Titusville put out a social media post to notify residents that, "The current COVID-19 Omicron surge is resulting in significant high volumes of patients seeking care from our Emergency Department as well as high volumes of hospitalized patients." The post also added that priority patients would be those who had "life or limb-threatening emergencies" and recommended that individuals with minor ailments and injuries go to a local urgent care center.
According to a Health First Facebook post, the hospital system had 208 COVID-19 patients across its four hospitals, 99% were unvaccinated, as of Jan. 21.
"I think the hospitals are going to continue to feel the strain for the next few weeks here," Davis said.
Though hospital admissions have gone up, the number of COVID-19 cases saw a slight decrease, Davis said. However, he cautioned that current rates are still disproportionately high compared to November 2021, when there were only 37 cases per 100,000 people.
According to FDOH data released Friday, there were 1,300.9 cases per 100,000 people making for a decrease of 590.3 cases since the prior week when cases were at an all time high of 1,891.2 cases per 100,000 people. This rate translates to 7,951 reported COVID-19 cases on the Space Coast. The new case positivity rate saw similar decreases this past week and went from 32.10% to 30.2%.
The increase in cases has also been seen across Brevard Public Schools and will impact the way BPS reports data as of Jan. 18, according to Katherine Allen senior coordinator at Brevard Public Schools.
BPS and FDOH-Brevard "will stop contact tracing for the recorded COVID-19 cases in our school. What this means is that you're going to notice that quarantines no longer appear on our dashboard and that change actually took place today," Allen explained.
Allen said the change is due to a shift in statewide COVID-19 policy that focuses on "preventing the spread at long term care facilities and secondly per state rule, parents are not required to quarantine their children even if they are in contact to a COVID case unless they are symptomatic."
Allen added that because many parents still sent children to school despite being told their child may have been in contact with a COVID-19 case, quarantine data did not "correlate to how many of those students were still being in their classes every day."
A report posted on BPS's COVID-19 dashboard on Jan. 17 showed that from Jan. 14 to Jan. 17 there were 701 district wide students in quarantine. From Jan. 18 to Jan. 20 there were 1,203 reported COVID-19 cases district-wide.
In a Friday Facebook post, BPS school board member Jennifer Jenkins emphasized that, "This is the highest number of positive cases in one reporting period in our schools since the beginning of the pandemic." Jenkins added, "Please remember, these are not just numbers, they are people. This directly impacts their families and those they interact with within our community. Ultimately impacting us all."
Despite the high number of cases in BPS and countywide, only 69% of eligible residents — those ages five and older— are vaccinated and of those, only 50% of teenagers and 17% of preteens are vaccinated, Davis said. Since last week, the Space Coast vaccination rate did not increase.
In light of the vaccination stagnation and the strain on hospitals, Davis emphasized the importance of vaccinating.
"It's pretty clear that with Omicron, the vaccines are less effective than they were with earlier variants. However, I think the bigger message is that it still makes it less likely that one becomes hospitalized or certainly dies from an infection," Davis said.
Statewide, 289,204 Floridians tested positive for COVID-19 and 605 died of COVID-19 from Jan. 14 to Jan. 20, yet, only 73% of eligible Floridians statewide have received at least one dose of a vaccine, according to FDOH data.
According to FDOH, of the eligible population in Florida, age group vaccination rates across the state are:
Ages 5-11, 19% vaccinated
Ages 12-19, 59% vaccinated.
Ages 20-29, 61% vaccinated.
Ages 30-39, 70% vaccinated.
Ages 40-49, 78% vaccinated.
Ages 50-59, 83% vaccinated.
Ages 60-64, 90% vaccinated.
Ages 65+, 91% vaccinated.
Nationwide, there have been a total of 69,437,067 COVID-19 cases and 858,909 deaths since the start of the pandemic, according to CDC data. A total of 80.1% of Americans have received at least one vaccine as of Jan. 21.
Where to get tested:
The following Brevard County Emergency Management Office-supported sites are available for COVID-19 testing.
Florida Department of Health-Brevard, 2555 Judge Fran Jamison Way, Viera; 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. This is a walk-up site. Preregister at nomihealth.com.
Parrish Medical Center, 951 N. Washington Ave., Titusville; 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Sunday, This is a drive-thru site. No appointments are required.
Rockledge City Center, 920 Barton Blvd., Rockledge, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Sunday. The site as at the southwest corner of the Rockledge City Center parking lot, near the intersection of Barton and Fiske boulevards. This is a drive-thru site with preregistration recommended, but walk-ins are welcome. Preregister at patientportalfl.com.
West Melbourne Community Park, 3000 Minton Road, West Melbourne (use Fell Road entrance to the park); 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Sunday. This is a walk-up site, with preregistration recommended, but walk-ins are welcome. Preregister at patientportalfl.com.
Testing also is available to established or new Omni Healthcare patients at its offices in Brevard County. To book an appointment, patients can call their Omni doctor's office.
Various other urgent-care centers, private physicians' offices and pharmacies also provide COVID-19 tests, and some retailers sell in-home test kits.
Additionally, the website www.211Brevard.org has a list of sites offering testing. Some of those sites require reservations, while others allow walk-ins.
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Where to get vaccinated:
The Florida Department of Health is offering COVID-19 vaccines at three sites.
Melbourne clinic, 601 E. University Blvd., 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays. Those ages 5-11 can get vaccinated only from 1:30 to 4 p.m. on Friday.
Titusville clinic, 611 N. Singleton Ave., 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays. Those ages 5-11 can get vaccinated only from 1:30 to 4 p.m. on Friday.
Viera clinic, 2555 Judge Fran Jamieson Way, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays. Those ages 5-11 can get vaccinated only from 8 to 11:30 a.m. and 1 to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday.
Residents also can get vaccinated at Omni Healthcare's offices, as well as at its walk-in vaccination clinic located in Suite 303 on the third floor of 1344 S. Apollo Blvd. in Melbourne, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays. Vaccinations also are available from 9 a.m. to noon in Suite 2C of Omni's 1344 S. Apollo Blvd. complex.
Walk-ins are accepted. But appointments can be made by calling 321-802-5515 or by emailing the request and including a name and phone number to COVID@OMNIhealthcare.com.
COVID-19 vaccines also are available at pharmacies at various local CVS, Publix, Sam’s Club, Walgreens, Walmart and Winn-Dixie stores, as well as some urgent-care centers and physician offices. Check the individual site for appointment requirements and vaccine availability.
Where to get the monoclonal antibody treatment:
The monoclonal antibody treatment operation is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily under an outdoor tented area in the southwest corner of the Rockledge City Center parking lot, at 920 Barton Blvd. The site is at the intersection of Barton and Fiske boulevards.
Appointments are required, as is proof of a positive COVID-19 test result. Appointments can be made at https://www.patientportalfl.com/.
Amira Sweilem is the data reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Sweilem at 386-406-5648 or asweilem@floridatoday.com.
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: COVID-19 is down but numbers of sick impact Brevard County hospitals
