- April 26, 2024
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Flagler County's COVID-19 case numbers are higher than they've ever been and unvaccinated COVID-19 patients are filling the local hospital to near capacity, but demand for vaccination is lagging enough that the health department is cutting back its vaccination hours due to lack of demand.
The department recorded 731 cases last week, and 694 the week before.
The hospital is nearing capacity: It has 93 patients and 99 beds, plus some overflow beds.
"We’re right now at our highest peak," Florida Department of Health-Flagler Communications Manager Gretchen Smith said on Flagler Broadcasting's "Free For All Friday" Aug. 20. "... We are seeing a pretty significant uptick in the number of cases in schools."
The virus is moving quickly through families.
The other day, Smith said, she was at the health department's rapid testing site when a family of six drove up in a van. All tested positive. The car behind them had four people. All of them tested positive, too.
The department is doing a lot of testing — it tested over 200 people the other evening, Smith said, and will shift its testing operations back to the Cattleman's Hall at the Flagler County fairgrounds starting Monday, Aug. 23 — but few vaccinations.
Meanwhile, over 91% of hospitalized COVID-19 at AdventHealth Palm Coast are unvaccinated, said Wally De Aquino, AdventHealth Palm Coast's chief operating officer. The hospital is nearing capacity: It has 93 patients and 99 beds, plus some overflow beds.
AdventHealth Palm Coast's sister hospitals have been taking some Flagler County patients to lessen the load, De Aquino said.
AdventHealth noted an increase in patients this week. ER staff, already stretched thin, are also having to deal with people coming in for things that don't warrant emergency care, like toothaches and minor, cold-like COVID symptoms. (People should seek emergency care for shortness of breath, or anything unusual that might suggest a blood clot, said health department Medical Director Dr. Stephen Bickel, but not for symptoms like fever, cough and body aches.)
There have also been people coming to the hospital looking for COVID-19 testing and vaccinations, which the hospital doesn't offer for the general public, and people who don't believe in the virus demanding tours.
"We actually get phone calls here from community residents asking to come and have a tour in the hospital to make sure that it is COVID that we have in the hospital," De Aquino said. "And sometimes we just have to educate them that it wouldn’t be kosher for them to be walking around the hospital just to check it out."
The hospital has over 1,000 employees on staff who are seeing the impacts of COVID-19 every day, he said.
"We hear these [COVID-denying] comments, and unfortunately it’s very hard for our staff," he said.
Bickel said he believes the vast majority of locals are reasonable. But, he added, "We have a vocal group that’s really kind of dominating the airwaves."
Case rates seem to be plateauing, he said, and might come down in September or October. He guessed October.
Smith warned that the pandemic is at its peak, locally.
"So be kind, be safe, wear your mask — please get vaccinated," she said.
