Dr. Euthym Kontaxis is excited to finally share a positive COVID-19 update.

He says hospitalizations at Eisenhower Health are starting to trend downward.

“We’ve dropped significantly over the last couple weeks. We went from about almost 170 in the hospital down to 129 COVID patients,” said Dr. Kontaxis, the medical director of Eisenhower Heath’s Tennity Emergency Department.

Right now, ICU numbers remain relatively stable.

A slight dip in hospitalizations can also be seen at Desert Regional, and through Riverside County’s public COVID data.

New coronavirus cases are also beginning to follow the same pattern.

“The modeling was that we’d see a spike and a peak in February. So we’re still hopeful that we flattened it, but we’re still waiting to make sure. One of the positives, I think, is that people are starting to see some hope,” said Dr. Kontaxis.

Despite the good news, health experts urge the community to not let its guard down.

They say rates are still much higher than the amount recorded before Thanksgiving, and vaccinations are in an early phase.

“The vaccine prevents you from getting disease, it’s not 100 percent, you still may get infected, you still may get asymptomatic infections so you need to continue to protect yourself in case the vaccine is not 100 percent for you, but also to protect others,” said Dr. Tomás Aragón, the director of California Department of Public Health.

But for now, Dr. Kontaxis says the numbers are trending in the right direction.

“We have a little ways to go, but I think once we get to that critical point where our really at-risk people get vaccinated and we also get to the point where we can open up again, then we’ll know really where we’re at, and hopefully it’s in a good place,” said Dr. Kontaxis.

Local hospitals report recent drop in hospitalizations