COVID-19: New Ocala/Marion school cases have plateaued; quarantines drop by 66%

The number of COVID-19 quarantines dropped by 66% in one week in area schools, while the number of new COVID-19 cases has plateaued, according to the Marion County Public Schools' weekly report.

The report, released Monday, shows 15 people (13 students and two employees) tested positive for COVID-19 during the week of Nov. 13-19, compared to 16 for both the weeks of Nov. 6-12 and Oct. 30-Nov. 5.

Cases have dropped by 98% in three months. The record for COVID-19 school cases in one week was 733 during for Aug. 21-27.

How to get kids vaccinated: Marion offers vaccines to children ages 5-11

Last week: COVID-19: New Ocala/Marion school cases has plateaued, while quarantines still on the rise

Marion County Public Schools, the county's largest employer, educates about 42,500 students using 7,000 employees at 51 schools and dozens of district offices. The county is larger in size than Rhode Island.

There were 67 people (all students) placed under quarantine from Nov. 13-19, compared to 195 from Nov. 6-12, 125 for Oct. 30-Nov. 5, and the record 3,404 for Aug. 21-27.

That's a week-over-week decrease in quarantines of 66%, and a decrease of 98% in the past three months. Communitywide, there has also been a downward trend in cases, positivity rate and hospitalizations.

The number of new Marion County cases ticked up to 129 for Nov. 12-18, compared to 128 (about 18 cases per day) for Nov. 5-11, 139 for Oct. 29-Nov. 4, 230 for Oct. 22-28, and the record 3,228 for Aug. 21-27.

That's a increase in cases of 0.8% in one week and a decline of 96% since late August, state Department of Health data shows.

Total COVID-19 cases in Marion now stand at 57,175, which means 1 in 6.5 Marion residents has been infected. Marion deaths are at least 1,750, or 2.8% of those who have been infected with COVID-19 in Marion.

From Aug. 20-26, Marion recorded a seven-day record of 3,228 cases, or an average of 461 per day. The winter surge peak, which was then a record, was 1,988 (284 per day) in one week.

Marion continues to see decline

Marion County's seven-day total of new hospitalizations was 23 on Monday, up from 20 last week and up from 16 on Nov, 8, though down from 41 on Nov. 1, according to federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

Eleven weeks ago the total was 350. The seven-day positivity rate is also low: It was 2.79% on Monday, compared to 2.81% on Nov. 15, and 3.54% on Nov. 9. For the week through Aug. 12, Marion County's seven-day positivity rate was 30%.

The Florida Department of Health reported Friday that Marion's seven-day positivity rate was 2.6% for the week of Nov. 12-18, the same as the previous week.

The percentage of hospital beds with COVID-19 patients is now 2.81%, down from 3.71% on Nov. 15, 4.84% for Nov. 9, and 6.55% on Oct. 25. The percentage of ICU beds being used to treat COVID-19 patients was also 2.81% on Monday.

Both the hospital bed rate and ICU bed rate, in terms of percentage of patients diagnosed with COVID-19, was above 50% two months ago.

In all, 216,030 Marion County residents have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. That is an increase of 1,640 vaccinations in one week.

The report shows that 67% of Marion residents ages 12 and older have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine, while 87.5% of residents ages 65 and older have had at least one dose. The data shows that 59.1% of Marion's entire population has had one dose.

Joe Callahan can be reached at (352) 817-1750 or email him at joe.callahan@starbanner.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoeOcalaNews.

This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: Ocala/Marion school COVID quarantines drop after 14 days of increases