The Florida Hospital Association President Mary Mayhew said she has been encouraged with the latest COVID trends. Mayhew appeared on MSNBC last week and said she is hopeful given the drop in hospitalization numbers.
“Right now we are seeing very encouraging trends,” Mayhew said. “Our hospitalizations have dropped dramatically. We are now down to 14,800 hospitalizations. This is extremely encouraging. Our admissions are dropping as well.”
Mayhew continued by crediting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for his push to provide Floridians with access to the newly developed monoclonal antibody treatment.
“Gov. DeSantis has set up 21 sites around the state. Over 40,000 individuals have received treatment over the last several weeks. That is absolutely contributing,” Mayhew said.
The monoclonal treatment has been highlighted as providing relief to hospitals around Florida, including Jacksonville and Ocala.
“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.”
The treatment is designed to be given to COVID-positive patients early in the virus’ development for primarily unvaccinated individuals. However, it has been approved for select administration to vaccinated individuals.
Earlier this week, The Florida Capital Star also reported on the dropping hospitalization numbers, notably in Miami-Dade County.
The data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services showed Miami-Dade County hospitals were treating approximately only 100 unvaccinated Floridians and 9 vaccinated Floridians.
Mayhew also noted she feels it is still best for people to get vaccinated if they haven’t already, but things are looking up.
“So there are signs that we have peaked and are headed in the right direction,” Mayhew said.
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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.
Photo “Mary Mayhew” by Florida Hospital Association.
