John Davis

The system will assign appointments on a first-come, first-served basis, and unlike the previous system allows people to sign up via telephone, too.

The reservation phone line will not be open until 9 a.m. Wednesday and slots are expected to be claimed quickly.

People 65 and older can now make appointments to receive the Moderna vaccine at 105 Publix pharmacies in 12 Florida counties.

The association encourages Floridians not to delay elective surgeries, checkups, emergency room visits and health screenings due to COVID fears.

Officials with the Lee Health and Naples Community Hospital healthcare systems both report a slight decrease Thursday in COVID-19 patient volumes. Lee Health’s four acute care hospitals are currently treating 296 COVID-19 positive patients, which is down from 310 patients Wednesday.

Despite Florida’s ongoing surge in new cases of the coronavirus, the Lee Health and Naples Community Hospital healthcare systems experienced a slight reduction over the weekend in the number of COVID-19 patients being treated in their acute care hospitals. Lee Health is currently treating 335 COVID-19 positive patients, which is 18 fewer than on Friday. NCH is currently treating 121 COVID-19 positive patients, which is 11 fewer than before the weekend.

A recent report shows many labs in the state reporting 100% positivity rates for COVID-19 tests, meaning that every test they report is positive for the virus or that they’re simply not reporting negative test results, but and Lee Health officials say that’s not the case.

The current surge in COVID-19 cases is prompting local health officials to once again resume daily press briefings. As of Thursday morning, 87% of Lee Health’s ICU beds were full, and 60% of critical care beds were full at NCH hospitals.

After lifting a moratorium on elective surgeries in Florida, last week, Gov. Ron DeSantis held a news briefing with surgeons at Lee Health ’s Gulf Coast...

As red tide conditions persist along the Southwest Florida coast between Venice south to Marco Island, residents and visitors of some Lee County beaches...