Omicron COVID-19 hospitalizations at AdventHealth, Halifax Health starting to decline

COVID-19 hospitalizations are starting to slowly trend downward at AdventHealth and Halifax Health hospitals.

AdventHealth Central Florida Division, which includes hospitals in seven Florida counties including five in Volusia and Flagler, reported 960 COVID-19 patients on Tuesday, down from the 1,100 patients it reported the week of Jan. 17, according to hospital officials.

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The hospital system had not provided a COVID-19 update since Jan. 5, when it reported 630 COVID-19 patients. AdventHealth did not provide numbers specific to its Volusia and Flagler hospitals.

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Of the 960 patients hospitalized Tuesday, 150 were receiving ICU-level care, officials said.

Halifax Health on Monday reported 81 COVID-19 patients at its three Volusia County hospitals, according to an email from spokesman John Guthrie. That number dropped slightly from the 84 patients reported this time last week.

Of the patients hospitalized with COVID-19 Monday, 19 were in the ICU, 12 were on ventilators and 63% of the patients were unvaccinated, according to Guthrie.

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AdventHealth remains at “green” status and continues to operate normally, according to hospital officials.

“We have taken the lessons learned from previous surges and applied them so that we can continue to serve all of the community’s health needs while caring for an increased number of COVID patients,” said Dr. Victor Herrera, chief medical officer of AdventHealth Orlando in a press release. “We are pleased to see the number of COVID-19 patients on the decline and we are grateful to our team members for their hard work as well as our community for their continued support.”

AdventHealth Centra Care’s statewide seven-day rolling positivity rate has decreased from 40% on Jan. 5 to 34% Tuesday.

AdventHealth hospital officials say that while the numbers are trending in the right direction, there is still a high rate of transmissibility of the omicron variant in the community.

AdventHealth recommends getting vaccinated; staying up to date with vaccine booster shots; continuing to wear masks; and getting tested if exposed to COVID-19 or are symptomatic.

Nikki Ross covers K-12 education, health and COVID-19 for the Daytona Beach News-Journal. She can be reached at nikki.ross@news-jrnl.com or follow her on Twitter @nikkiinreallife.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: AdventHealth, Halifax Health report declining COVID-19 hospitalizations