ORLANDO, Fla. – Is the coronavirus pandemic over?
Dr. Vincent Hsu, of AdventHealth, says not quite.
“We are very close. You can say we are on the 10-yard line, 5-yard line, right there toward the goal line, but we cannot spike the ball quite yet,” said Hsu, AdventHealth executive director of infection prevention.
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AdventHealth held a briefing Thursday to discuss where Central Florida stands with the coronavirus and what to expect in the months ahead.
Hsu said the positivity rate has gone down in Central Florida, adding that vaccinations are working, keeping people out of hospitals.
Still, he said more people need to get vaccinated.
“We are in this somewhat unfortunate situation where there’s still a large number of people who have not been vaccinated, so there are still pockets of infection,” Hsu said.
He also explained variants of the virus will continue to be a concern as more Americans resume traveling, adding that people who are unvaccinated should continue to take precautions.
That includes children under 12. Hsu said trials for that younger age group are underway.
“We don’t expect those trials to have any results by October or November, so we will not expect that there will be vaccinations before schools start,” he said.
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