AdventHealth Dr. Says Being Vaccinated Is Best Way To Fight Omicron

Orlando, FL – AdventHealth’s Centra Care clinics have seen the daily positivity rate for COVID triple in recent weeks, from about 5.5 percent to 21 percent. Dr. Victor Herrera, chief medical officer at AdventHealth Orlando, said this increase is spreading in the community and underscoring the need for more people to get vaccinated, including third doses. During an AdventHealth News Briefing on Tuesday, Dr. Herrera said the increase points to high community transmission and that the positivity rate has a predictive value on hospitalizations. Right now there are about 100 COVID patients in AdventHealth hospitals. Dr. Herrera said so far, the Omicron variant has come with milder symptoms but they need to be ready. “We need to be ready for that possibility because that number will suggest that at the beginning of January, we could start seeing an increase in hospitalizations.” Dr. Herrera said past experience will help them be proactive for the next surge, which is why the COVID Command Center was reopened Tuesday. “What that means is that leaders from different areas evaluate the current situation. We think about possible scenarios in the next few weeks and we make sure that we are ready. We ask the question, “Is there something we could be doing differently in case we end up with the situation where we have increasing hospitalizations and overwhelm the system.” The data so far shows that Omicron is a very infectious variant. Dr. Herrera said there are precautions that we know work to keep the symptoms milder. “Getting vaccinated. Using masks when we feel we’re in a high-risk situation of getting exposed to somebody that may be positive. Hand hygiene. Those things now are important to try to control the spread of this very infectious variant.” A review of records related to patients who recently tested positive at Centra Care, AdventHealth’s urgent care clinics, showed that most of the people with breakthrough infections had not received a third dose of the vaccine. Only about 4% of positive cases were found among people who already had the booster shot. People who are experiencing sinus congestion, stomach upset, fever, or other symptoms should get a COVID-19 test as soon as they begin to feel ill.