COVID-19 hospitalizations may be leveling off, AdventHealth says

According to AdventHealth officials, the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations may be leveling off.

Dr. Rebecca Gomez, a hospitalist and the chair of the internal medicine department at AdventHealth Orlando, said Jan. 28 that AdventHealth’s Central Florida division is seeing a plateau in the most recent COVID-19 surge.

“We’re about plateauing — maybe starting to see a drop in that curve we were on from the winter surge,” Gomez said. “We’re discharging as many patients as are coming in.”

Gomez also talked about her experience caring for COVID-19 patients over the last 11 months and how treatments evolved as experts learned more about the virus. She said “proning,” for example, has been effective in helping treat COVID-19 patients. Proning is lying a patient on their stomachs for as long as they can remain comfortable to help open their lungs. She also discussed steroids and other treatments.

Additionally, she said, while the vaccine is key to ending the pandemic, the community needs to continue doing its part to stop the spread by wearing masks, practicing social distancing and continuing frequent hand washing.

Vaccines are not currently available at any AdventHealth hospital, AdventHealth Centra Care or AdventHealth Medical Group office, but you can sign up for alerts to learn when more appointments are available by clicking here.