Orlando Sentinel (Sunday)

Florida reports 22,818 new cases, lowest daily count since Christmas

- By David Schutz South Florida Sun Sentinel By Monivette Cordeiro

Florida reported 22,818 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, dropping the state’s 7-day average to 37,414, a 31% decline from one week ago, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Hospitaliz­ations have held steady for nearly two weeks, another key indicator that the omicron wave is slowing. There were 11,351 patients with the virus in Florida hospitals on Friday and 1,619 adult COVID patients in intensive care, data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services shows.

The state reported a large batch of new vaccinatio­ns, which had been slowing significan­tly in recent days. The average daily vaccinatio­n rate increased to 52,036 over the past week but remains at its lowest level since late October, CDC data shows.

About 64.7% of Floridians are fully vaccinated and 36% have received booster shots.

Central Florida’s per-capita rate of new cases and testing positivity levels mostly fell over the past week, with only a slight increase seen in Seminole County.

Orange County: 1,345 cases per 100,000 population over the past week; 33.87% positivity rate.

Osceola County: 1,479 cases per 100,000 population over the past week; 32.32% positivity rate.

Seminole County: 1,236 cases per 100,000 population over the past week; 38.78% positivity rate.

Lake County: 1,187 cases per 100,000 population over the past week; 34.69% positivity rate.

The state added two deaths to its total count on Saturday, bringing the 7-day rolling average to 69. Death reports lag behind case reports by several weeks and many experts expected to see death counts rise even after the state rounded the peak in new cases. During last summer’s delta wave, deaths peaked about 14 days after cases.

On Saturday, at least 5,303,818 Floridians have been infected by COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic and at least 63,576 have died in total.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States