AdventHealth physician: COVID-19 cases rising, but vaccines on the way

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  • Central Florida Division Corporate Communications
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ORLANDO, Fla., Dec. 3, 2020 – This morning on the AdventHealth Morning Briefing, Dr. Victor Herrera, associate chief medical officer and infectious disease specialist at AdventHealth Orlando, discussed the latest on COVID-19, including the importance of masking and anticipation of the first round of COVID-19 vaccine distributions in Central Florida.

COVID-19 cases have risen nationwide during the past month, including a modest uptick of hospitalizations in this region. As of this morning, there are about 370 COVID-19-positive patients hospitalized throughout the AdventHealth system in seven Central Florida counties.

“During the summer we had a very big surge in Florida, while other states were not going through that,” Herrera said. “It is possible that what we are now seeing is other states going through their own big surge. We’ve learned it’s very difficult to predict what is happening.”

Herrera emphasized diligence and discipline in wearing face masks, frequent hand washing and maintaining social distance to help control the spread of the virus. His advice supports AdventHealth’s participation among more than 100 other health care systems in the nationwide #MaskUp campaign to prevent the spread of COVID-19. More information on that campaign may be found at www.everymaskup.com.

In vaccine news, AdventHealth has been tapped by the state of Florida as one of the first sites to store and administer the new COVID-19 vaccine – or vaccines – as they come online for use. More details about vaccine availability will be announced tomorrow.

We encourage you to refer to the video on the Life at AdventHealth Central Florida page to pull direct quotes from Herrera. The video may be downloaded by following this link: https://vimeo.com/486803201#t=240s

AdventHealth Morning Briefing will return Thursday, Dec. 10 with more updates on the COVID-19 pandemic. Videos stream on the Life at AdventHealth Central Florida page and are saved in our newsroom at www.AdventHealthOrlandoNews.com.