State college towns add to COVID-19 case jumps

Officials report 369 more infections in 15-to-24 age group

Florida’s college towns are contributing to the jump in coronavirus cases in young people.

On Monday, Florida health officials reported 369 more young people in the 15-to-24 age group have been infected, making up 22% of all new cases.

Almost half of those new infections are in counties with major universities such as University of Florida, Florida State University, University of Central Florida and University of South Florida. In addition, South Florida, home to two state universities, reported 83 new cases in that age group from the day prior.

Over the last four weeks, with students back on university campuses in Florida, young adults have played a major role in the spread of the infection in the state — more than 4,800 people ages 15 to 24 have been confirmed with

the virus during that time period.

The age group with the next largest percentage of new infections is the 24-to-35 age group, which made up 15% of the cases on Monday.

However, the older population — 85 plus — continues to be the most vulnerable, making up a third of all deaths from the virus in Florida, according to Monday’s health data.

As the virus spreads in college towns, some young adults are landing in the hospital from side effects of COVID-19.

At news conferences, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis repeatedly has said young people “don’t get all that sick from COVID-19.”

But state health data shows otherwise. On Monday the state reported nearly 4,000 people 35 and younger have been hospitalized from the virus in Florida – that represents 500 people in the last four weeks.

At a virtual town hall last week, Palm Beach County Commissioner Melissa McKinlay said her 19-year-old daughter at University of Central Florida was hospitalized in Orlando after testing positive for COVID-19.

She had “excruciating shooting leg pains,” McKinlay said. The commissioner said her daughter’s three roommates tested positive for the virus as well. “This virus spreads easily and anyone who believes young people are immune are wrong. Anyone who believes young people can’t get serious side effects are wrong,” she said.

Along with young adults, the virus also has infected young children in the state. Florida saw an increase of nearly 8,000 new cases in children 18 and younger in the last four weeks. Health data also shows a rise in a rare, but dangerous, COVID-related illness. Florida has had 69 confirmed cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C), 31 of them were confirmed in the last four weeks.

Florida numbers

On Monday, the Florida Department of Health reported an additional 1,685 people in Florida have tested positive for COVID-19. Also, 35 more people have died from the virus — 21 more residents, and 14 non-residents.

The daily death toll represents a pattern of single-day low death counts, significantly lower than the 100-plus totals that had been more typical of the past two weeks.

In addition, daily testing positivity rate stood at 4.34% Monday, the 10th straight day it came in below 5%, a key target for decisions whether to allow the resumption of normal life. The World Health Organization has said governments should achieve a daily positivity rate of 5% or less for two straight weeks.

The numbers were announced on the same day the United States is closing in on a major milestone of 200,000 deaths from COVID-19 as more than half of states are reporting a rise in cases.

The total new Florida infections, which is neither the highest or lowest released over the past few weeks, come as South Florida continues to take steps toward reopening the economy. Deaths in Florida for COVID-19 reached their highest count on Aug. 4 with 194 deaths reported for a single day. The three South Florida counties continue to show the largest total deaths per county in the state.

Broward and Miami-Dade counties moved into phase 2 of reopening last week, joining Palm Beach County in allowing more types of businesses to resume operations. Palm Beach County public school campuses reopened Monday. The Broward school district proposes reopening classrooms Oct. 5 and 12, in a plan to be discussed Tuesday by the school board. It is unclear how school openings could affect case counts and the positivity rate.

Monday’s total of new infections represents a drop from the total reported Sunday, which was 2,521 new cases, and it’s far lower than the daily totals last month, which routinely topped 6,000.

Experts caution against drawing conclusions from a single day’s counts, since they are affected by factors such as how quickly test results and deaths are reported to authorities. But the longer-term trends are favorable. The disease produced its peak number of new daily cases in July, with deaths reaching their highest daily counts in August.

The new cases bring the total to 685,439 in Florida since the pandemic began, according to the Florida Department of Health, which posts daily updates. The total death count, which includes both Florida residents and nonFlorida residents who died in the state, reached 13,480.

South Florida

Broward County: The county had 131 additional confirmed coronavirus cases Monday. Broward County now has 75,801 confined cases and 1,322 deaths, two more than Sunday’s total.

Palm Beach County: Palm Beach County reported 96 additional confirmed cases Monday and no new deaths. The county now has 45,425 confirmed cases and 1,277 deaths.

Miami-Dade County: The county reported 272 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and no new deaths. Miami-Dade now has 167,153 confirmed cases and 3,055 deaths.

Hospitalizations

The number of people hospitalized for the disease continued to decline.

As of mid-day Monday, 2,267 people across the state were hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19. The number is down 22 from the 2,289 hospitalizations in the state on Sunday. .

Since the pandemic began, a total of 42,543 state residents have been hospitalized for the disease in Florida, according to the Department of Health.

Broward County reported 242 patients currently hospitalized; Palm Beach County had 154; and Miami-Dade had the most in the state with 315.

The online report from the state Agency for Health Care Administration updates several times throughout the day. Hospitalizations have been going down since hitting a peak in late July.

Testing

More than 5.1 million people have been tested for COVID-19 in Florida since the pandemic began, producing an overall positivity rate of 13.39%, state data show. At least 685,439 people have tested positive and 4.42 million people have tested negative.

The latest state report shows the daily positivity rate at 4.34%, up from 4.64% the previous day. This figure reflects only new infections based on COVID-19 testing for the day; it does not count people who previously tested positive for the disease.

The state’s numbers on Monday reflect test results for 43,198 people, a significant drop from the nearly 100,000 daily test results reported on several days in August.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday reversed coronavirus testing guidance, which previously said that people who didn’t have symptoms but were exposed to an infected person “do not necessarily need a test.” The new CDC guidance now says people without symptoms who have been in close contact with an infected person need a test.

National and global view

U.S: The United States is closing in on a major milestone of 200,000 deaths from COVID-19 as more than half of states are reporting a rise in cases. More than 6.7 million people in the U.S. have been infected with the virus in the US and 199,511 have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. As of Monday, 28 states are above the recommended positivity rate of 5%.

World: The novel coronavirus has infected more than 31.1 million people and killed at least 961,544 worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center.