ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — It's starting to look like Florida is turning a corner with this fourth wave of the virus driven by the Delta variant, but we'll have to give it a little more time to know for sure. But it's not happening overnight. We asked USF Health's Dr. Jill Roberts about what she's watching for. She says it's going to be a slow decline to start.
“It’s hard to know day to day because you can get fluctuations in cases and case reporting, especially. When we don’t have data coming out each day, it’s hard to tell as well. And so generally I just like to watch the trend. We kind of hit a top point and sort of plateaued out, we started to flatten out there for awhile which would suggest we’ll then start going back down in the absence of other factors that can drive it back up, reinstating school and things like that actually can drive the cases back up again.”
Here's something else she's watching. Israel is also seeing a surge in cases.
Researchers are paying attention as well because Israel has a high vaccination rate and was one of the first to give shots around the same time as when healthcare providers here in the U.S. received theirs during the winter. Dr. Roberts says this situation shows how bad the Delta variant really is.
“We definitely need to have the conversation about the booster shot because the potential exists that some of these cases are the result of waning immunity. Why that’s really important is remember the booster shot is recommended for 8 months after the second shot, but in Israel, people were actually vaccinated as early as December,” Dr. Roberts said.
She knows some healthcare providers here are already scheduling boosters even before the FDA and CDC give the green light. Dr. Roberts says vaccinations are doing a great job of keeping people out of the hospital and dying from the disease, but the vaccines aren't stopping the virus from spreading-- which is why we need to wear masks and social distance.