Florida COVID hospitalizations have decreased for a fourth day in a row, according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services data.
The data shows Florida’s hospitals are taking care of 15,778 COVID patients which accounts for only 27.5 percent of all Floridians hospitalized. Similarly, Florida’s ICU’s are helping 3,477 COVID patients, which was over 200 less COVID patients than Thursday, last week.
Specifically, in Miami-Dade County, one of Florida’s most populated counties, the COVID hospitalizations and new COVID patients are also down. On August 15, Miami-Dade hospitals saw 196 new COVID patients while on August 28, the same metric was down to 105. The number of vaccinated Floridians hospitalized in Miami-Dade was down to single digits: nine patients.
The decline in hospitalizations in Florida can, in part, be attributed to the access of different treatments for COVID. One of the newest developments in treating COVID has been monoclonal antibody treatments, which has shown a positive impact early on it its implementation in Florida.
“So the monoclonal antibody is effective against the Delta, it’s effective against the Alpha which was the original variant,” said Michael Torres, VP and chief medical officer at Advent Health Ocala. “I’m reading now about a Lambda variant that’s beginning to show in other parts of the world. The initial research and study of the monoclonals is that it is also effective in helping people mitigate the effects of the Lambda variant.”
Torres continued by saying monoclonal treatment can be beneficial for treating COVID early on when the patient begins feeling symptoms.
“It is clearly a disease course altering treatment,” Torres said. “People that have had significant COVID infection are being left with scarred bodies, scarred brains, scarred lungs. The folks that get the monoclonal, high and far don’t suffer any of that type of residual body function, bodily decrease function, so I just think it’s a God-send.”
Also, one of the newest studies from Israel, one of the most vaccinated nations in the world, indicated individuals with natural immunity proved to be 13 times stronger compared to individuals who were vaccinated.
“This study demonstrated that natural immunity confers longer lasting and stronger protection against infection, symptomatic disease and hospitalization caused by the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, compared to the BNT162b2 two-dose vaccine-induced immunity. Individuals who were both previously infected with SARS-CoV-2 and given a single dose of the vaccine gained additional protection against the Delta variant.”
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Grant Holcomb is a reporter at the Florida Capital Star and the Star News Network. Follow Grant on Twitter and direct message tips.
