OKEECHOBEE – Okeechobee County’s covid hospitalizations remain higher than state average, according to information shared at the Sept. 23, 2021 meeting of the Okeechobee County Commissioners.

What can be done to improve the situation? Raulerson Hospital CEO Brian Melear’s advice: Vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate.

Melear said statewide, 18.2% of hospital patients are covid-positive. At Raulerson Hospital, 44% of the hospital’s capacity is currently taken up by covid patients.

“ICU capacity is still our number one issue in terms of staffing,” he said. He said in the past 15 months, 735 covid patients have been admitted to Raulerson Hospital.

Bret Smith, interim administrator at the Florida Department of Health in Okeechobee County, said the positivity numbers have gone down, but are still high. This week Okeechobee County had a 16.44% positivity rate. Vaccinations are up slightly, and that could be helping, he said.

As of Sept. 23, about 48% of Okeechobee County residents over the age of 12 have been vaccinated.

Of those ages 12-19, total vaccinated is 1,047 with 828 completing the two-shot series.

Since Aug. 20, he explained, 1,784 Okeechobee County residents have tested positive. Of those positives, 89 were breakthrough cases in which a person who was at least partially-vaccinated tested positive.

For the seven day period Sept. 17-23, there were 129 positive cases, including 10 breakthrough cases and 23 school-age cases. None of the breakthrough cases required hospitalization, Smith added.

Smith said they are trying to get a monoclonal antibody site in Okeechobee County. The new federal limits on distribution of the monoclonal antibody treatments has made that more difficult.