CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) -- The University of Virginia Medical Center is seeing an increase in hospitalizations due to COVID-19. 

Reid Adams, the chief medical officer at UVA, said the increase in cases is due to people traveling for Thanksgiving. 

"Infectious disease experts predicted everybody would see a surge after the holidays anticipating people would visit family and friends and have risk of exposure so we are seeing some of that in Charlottesville," said Adams. 

From Nov. 18 to Dec. 14, the percent positivity rate increased from 1.8 percent to 5.4 percent. 

"What we're seeing is community spread that we are seeing throughout the country, so we've more been fortunate in Virginia and in the Charlottesville-Albemarle area, but we are seeing an increase just like everywhere else in the country," said Adams.

Before Thanksgiving, UVA's bed capacity was stable during the fall and no students were hospitalized. However, the hospital is bracing for more people being hospitalized. 

"We're preparing to vaccinate individuals, we're preparing to take care of additional patients as needed, but we're really preparing on all fronts. We feel very lucky we have enough PPE and equipment," said Wendy Horton, the chief executive officer of UVA Medical Center. 

Despite vaccines being administered, the facility believes the hospitalizations will continue to increase until the vaccine is made available to everyone. 

"Realistically, it's going to take a while for the vaccinations to be spread throughout all aspects of our communities and so realistically will be sometime in the winter or spring before we really see an impact," said Adams. 

Both Adams and Horton are encouraging people not to travel for Christmas and New Year's and to continue wearing masks and social distance to prevent another surge after the holidays.