Brevard officials concerned over rising COVID-19 cases

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — On Thursday Brevard County held its first COVID-19 update in weeks.

The county, like many others in Florida, has seen an alarming uptick in new COVID-19 cases.

Many local hospitals say the numbers they’re seeing now rival what they saw during the virus’ initial surge last year.

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Epidemiologist Barry Inman said Brevard County has seen 2,500 COVID-19 cases this week alone.

Inman says with a dozen transports to area hospitals everyday it’s important that people get vaccinated.

“We have just over 50% of the population that is fully vaccinated,” he said.

READ: CDC mask recommendations: Is your county a ‘high transmissibility’ area?

Doctors attribute the spike in cases to the delta variant.

The surge is significant enough that Health First, Parrish Medical Center and the Steward Health Care System hold a daily call.

Edwin Loftin with Parrish Medical Center says they are seeing almost twice as many patients as this time last year.

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“On June 19, we had two patients in-house with COVID-19 and we were actually looking at planning a “zero-patient party”. Well fast forward to June 29 and we have 46 patients with covid. Six of those in ICU,” Loftin said.

Parrish Medical Center along with Health First have postponed elective surgeries

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Dr Jeffery Stalanker with Health First says the biggest issue facing medical professionals isn’t capacity, it’s staffing.

“You have to have the folks to take care of the patients and this has gone on for over a year and people are tired,” Stalanker said.

The rise in cases has the district planning to discuss its current “mask optional” policy at Thursday’s meeting.

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Cox Media Group