Officials say Space Coast ready for a new surge in COVID-19 testing demand
During the summer surge of the COVID-19 delta variant, Brevard County lagged in meeting a sudden demand in testing. Now, as a new worrying variant, omicron, is popping up across the country, local officials say that if a new surge hits Brevard County, the Space Coast is prepared to handle sudden demand for testing.
Just four months ago as the delta variant ravaged Brevard County, local residents struggled to find testing sites. Local county officials were not ready to meet the high testing demands.
Based on Google Trends data, online searches for "COVID tests" peaked between Aug.15 and Aug.21 in Florida.
In an emergency management meeting held Aug.20, John Scott, Brevard County's Emergency Management Director, addressed concerns about a shortage of COVID-19 tests locally.
"Testing is absolutely an issue," Scott said at the time. "The challenge is the demand is at its highest."
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Less than a week later, on Aug.26, the emergency management office announced a partnership between the Florida Department of Health in Brevard and Nomi Health Inc. to start COVID-19 testing on Aug.30 at 2555 Judge Fran Jamieson Way in Viera. In the weeks that followed, the county began adding more testing sites.
"Anytime you see demand spike and the delta spike was a pretty quick and significant spike...It's gonna take a little bit for us to get that sort of machine up and running. And its gonna take a little bit to scale those kinds of things. To go from zero to 60 can't happen overnight," said Scott.
As concerns about the omicron variant first arose over Thanksgiving and news escalated about the new variant of concern the following week, nationwide, searches for "COVID tests" have been increasing again, according to Google Trends data.
Omicron was initially detected in South Africa and Botswana. COVID-19 variants like omicron evolve from the initial strain, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Jay Wolfson, distinguished service professor of public health medicine and pharmacy at the University of South Florida in Tampa, explained that as people continue to get infected, the disease continues to evolve and more variants arise. The variants compete with each other until one prevails, leading to a new wave of infections.
While there are still many unknowns about the omicron variant, experts have found that omicron has 50 mutations, said Helen Medlin, a registered nurse and program manager of epidemiology at the Florida Department of Health in Brevard. These mutations can make vaccines, monoclonal antibody treatments, and natural antibodies less effective, said Medlin.
However, in the face of these unknowns, Wolfson, Scott, and Medlin emphasized that people should continue to vaccinate, socially distance, practice good hand-hygiene, wear facemasks, and get tested.
Medlin, said that since the delta surge, the county has more systems in place to handle any future potential surges in cases; many of the testing sites created during the delta surge are still working.
"At this point in time, we don't know what's going to happen or what omicron is going to do...just as delta or with other variants we've had if you are sick or show signs of illness any symptoms that could be COVID then isolate, particularly from your loved ones and everyone else. Get tested and stay home until you know that its not COVID," said Medlin.
"Surveillance is a core function of public health," said Wolfson. "As long as we're having some degree of surveillance available, some degree of reporting, as soon as we begin to see those upticks in the places where they appear most severely, that's in the hospital or when people do test, then we can begin to contain," said Wolfson.
Where to get tested:
The Florida Department of Health offers a testing site search on there website https://floridahealthcovid19.gov/testing-sites/
COVID-19 tests are also 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.
Where to get vaccinated:
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 only get vaccinated from 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Friday.
Titusville clinic, 611 N. Singleton Ave., 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays. Those ages 5-11 can only get vaccinated from 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Friday.
Viera clinic, 2555 Judge Fran Jamieson Way, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays. Those ages 5-11 can only get vaccinated from 8:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday to Friday.
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.
The website www.211Brevard.org has a list of medical facilities and businesses offering vaccines. Some of those sites require reservations, while others allow walk-ins.
Where to get the monoclonal antibody treatment:
Brevard County is providing Monoclonal Antibody treatment for free at the following location:
Kiwanis Island Park Gymnasium, 951 Kiwanis Island Park Road, Merritt Island, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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: Brevard County is ready for a surge in COVID-19 omicron testing
