JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — It has been four years since the first COVID-19 case was reported in the United States.
Since then, more than 100 million Americans have been sick with the virus and more than 1.1 million Americans have died. More than 90,000 of those deaths were Floridians. Dr. Jeffrey Goldhagen, the Chief of the Division of Community and Societal Pediatrics at the University of Florida, said people are still dying.
"People are dying, people are getting sick, people are getting long COVID, which for some people is devastating. And this is still a disease that needs to be taken very seriously," Goldhagen explained.
According to the CDC, counties along the First Coast are currently experience a low level of COVID-19 hospitalizations with a slight increase over the last couple of weeks. Goldhagen said COVID-19 related deaths are also rising.
"The challenge we have today is that there's significant complacency. People think of this as just another virus. Thousands of people are still dying from this disease in comparison to the flu. Far, far more people are dying from COVID," Goldhagen said.
Right now, COVID-19 symptoms are similar to the common cold with people typically experiencing a sore throat, runny nose, or fever; however, Goldhagen said the virus is still dangerous, especially for people already dealing with health issues and people over the age of 60. That is why he recommends people continue to get vaccinated with the latest shot to help prevent serious illness.
"What we know about a vaccine is that it doesn't necessarily prevent the disease, although it does prevent a substantial amount of it, but diminishes the severity of the disease, and it does impact the incidence of long COVID," Goldhagen said.