- April 24, 2024
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With an ever-increasing share of Flagler County's population vaccinated, it's just about time to start opening up society — especially for outdoor events where social distancing is possible, according to Florida Department of Health-Flagler Medical Director Dr. Stephen Bickel.
"Outdoor events — way safer," Bickel said. on Flagler Broadcasting's "Free For All Friday" radio program April 23. "If you can add social distancing to the outdoor event, then it almost makes masks superfluous."
Freedom Fest, at 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on July 3 at the Flagler Executive Airport, can proceed as usual without restrictions, he said, given the size of the location and the number of people expected to attend, based on previous years' events.
Flagler County is "in the realm of herd immunity, even maybe approaching the threshold," Bickel said.
With vaccines likely to be widely available by the end of May, he said, responsibility for preventing infection will increasingly fall to individuals, who can decide to get vaccinated or not.
"We need to get back to our lives. We've all taken quite a hit this year," Bickel said. "If there was no downside to the institutional protection of people, that would be one thing. But it's restricting commerce, restricting social activity, so that's the tradeoff."
It's worth thinking about two things, he said.
"One: Watch the hospitalization and death rates, and who that's happening to, and I think you're going to find more and more it's the unvaccinated population," he said. "And the second thing is — vaccinations, look at it as a way to open up society."
Bickel added that he expects case rates to stay where they are for a while, because there are still a number of unvaccinated people — many of whom don't want to be vaccinated.
"But we're going to find the death rates continuing to go down, hospitalization rates continuing to go down, the most vulnerable section of our society protected," he said. "So at that point it becomes more like the flu."
Over the previous week, said Florida Department of Health-Flagler Communications Manager Gretchen Smith, the county has been averaging 17 cases a day, down from about 30 cases a day a few weeks prior.
The positivity rate has been about 5%, and there have been fewer ER visits for COVID-like symptoms, she said.
About 50% of the county's population of people over 16 — approximately 50,000 people — has been vaccinated, and 79% of those over 65 have been vaccinated.
"Overall, I think we’re doing pretty well," Smith said.
