COVID-19 wave continues to ebb in Florida

Chris Persaud, Palm Beach Post
·3 min read
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FILE - A sign asks those getting vaccinated to keep 6 feet apart during the vaccination event, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021, at Nevada Union High School in Grass Valley, Calif. The CDC revised its COVID guidelines Thursday, further relaxing quarantine recommendations and dropping the recommendation that people stay at least 6 feet away from each other. (Elias Funez/The Union via AP, File)

The latest coronavirus surge is on the way out in Florida, every major indicator shows.

Hospitalizations, newly logged infections, testing positivity rates and viral levels in sewage are all falling, while newly recorded deaths — a lagging statistic — slowly rises.

Hospitals statewide counted fewer COVID-positive patients Friday than seven days before, the first time since late March that has happened.

Medical staff tended to 3,855 COVID patients Friday, a 347-person drop over the past week, the U.S. Health and Human Services Department reported.

The Florida Health Department on Friday logged an average of 59,959 new infections each week since its last biweekly report July 29. That's the smallest amount since May 20.

More COVID in Florida: Wave appears to be flattening with new infections, hospitalizations holding steady

In addition, 18.4% of tests statewide came back positive in the past week, down slightly from 21.2% during the week ending July 15.

While an untold number of COVID cases never make it into official statistics due to the rise of at-home testing and asymptomatic infections, testing positivity trends have mirrored caseloads and hospitalizations.

Lab analysis is also finding fewer coronavirus particles in sewage across Florida.

The number of genetic viral fragments detected in wastewater in six counties — Palm Beach, Miami-Dade, Orange, Seminole, Hillsborough and Pinellas — has dropped since late July, according to sampling conducted by Boston-based laboratory Biobot Analytics.

Still, cases and hospitalizations remain high enough in most parts of Florida that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to recommend masking indoors in all but three counties — Glades, Taylor and Holmes — to prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed.

But, as the school year begins, local governments and school districts can no longer enforce broad indoor mask rules because of edicts and laws Gov. Ron DeSantis passed last year.

More: COVID in Palm Beach County sewage testing indicates big drop is on its way

Florida's COVID death toll increased by an average of 497 victims each week since Juiy 29, state Health Department data shows, the highest level since March 25. Deaths can take weeks to enter official statistics.

COVID has killed at least 78,559 residents since the start of the pandemic.

The state's official fatality count excludes more than 3,000 people that physicians in 2020 labeled as victims of the disease, state auditors said this past June. The Florida Health Department has said it does not plan to include those victims.

New vaccinations remain sluggish statewide, as they have since original omicron mutation swept Florida.

An estimated 72% of eligible Floridians have at least one shot in their arms, state health officials reported Friday. Just 25% of children ages 5 to 11, and 1.8% ages 6 months to 4 years, are vaccinated.

Mortality rate: Deaths from COVID-19 in Florida take off amid undercounted cases in BA.5 surge

DeSantis made Florida the only state to block pediatricians from preordering vaccines for the youngest children in June before the federal government approved the shots for kids. And his handpicked surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo, is the only one in the nation to recommend against inoculating chidlren.

Chris Persaud is The Palm Beach Post's data reporter. Email him at cpersaud@pbpost.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Florida COVID wave is retreating, federal figures show