Florida COVID-19 positivity rate dips below 5% for first time since October
Just under 5% of Florida and Palm Beach County coronavirus test results released Saturday came back positive for the disease, the first time that has happened in about four months.
About 4.9% of 95,406 new test results statewide, and 4.4% of 7,292 countywide, confirmed the deadly pathogen's presence, a state health department report released Saturday showed. The last time fewer than 5% of Florida tests were positive was Oct. 28, and for Palm Beach County, Oct. 29.
Health officials have said the positivity rate must consistently remain below 5% before they can say efforts to control COVID-19 are working. Florida and Palm Beach County are not there yet.
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An average of 6% of tests, statewide and countywide, have come back positive over the past two weeks.
The number of Florida residents fully vaccinated against the coronavirus nearly matches the total infections found in them since the pandemic began.
Florida health officials reported Saturday that 1,863,605 residents statewide have received either both shots of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines or an injection of the new single-shot Johnson & Johnson formula, while 1,905,185 residents have been infected with the virus.
When out-of-state residents vaccinated or diagnosed here are included, the total immunized count stands at 1,902,314, and infection tally, 1,940,897. The state's coronavirus case count stood 4,690 higher on Saturday than Friday.
Palm Beach County's tally of fully vaccinated residents eclipsed its COVID-19 case count Feb. 20. As of Saturday, 185,479 county residents had been fully vaccinated and 123,033 cases documented, an increase of 324 infections since Friday.
The only county in Florida with more inoculated residents is Miami-Dade County, with 205,614.
Palm Beach County's more rapid vaccine rollout comes in part thanks to Gov. Ron DeSantis' order in December decreeing vaccines be restricted to health care workers, nursing home residents and elders 65 and older. About 24% of county residents fit that age range, compared to about 21% statewide.
Palm Beach County also benefited from DeSantis' plan to send the bulk of Florida's vaccines to Publix, which started in the county in late January and has spread statewide.
About 42% of Palm Beach County's more than 364,000 seniors have been fully vaccinated, and an additional 24% are awaiting their second of the two-shot vaccines. Statewide, 31% of Florida's nearly 4.5 million elders are fully inoculated, with an additional 26% slated for their second shots.
But giving the bulk of state vaccine supply to Publix — it administers about 19,000 shots daily in Palm Beach County alone — has helped lead to the oldest Floridians remaining disproportionately unvaccinated compared to the risk the virus poses to them.
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While 63% of the 31,620 Florida residents killed by COVID-19 as of Saturday were 75 and older, about 33% of fully immunized residents are in that age group.
Publix requires vaccine-seekers to book an appointment online, at publix.com/covid-vaccine, a difficult feat for many elders unfamiliar with the internet.
About 57% of Florida residents 75 and older, and 58% of those 65-74, have gotten at least one vaccine jab.
Restricting state-supplied shots to seniors, mostly through Publix, also continues to exacerbate Florida's racial immunization divide.
Florida's population is about 53% white. But white people comprise about 69% of those fully vaccinated. In Palm Beach County, where 53.5% of residents are white, 70% of the 185,479 people fully immunized are white.
Communities farther from Publix stores have fewer white people. In response, DeSantis has directed the government to set up pop-up vaccine sites in Black communities but has yet to set up permanent mass vaccination sites.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has set those up in Miami — where whites are the minority — Orlando, Tampa and Jacksonville following an order from President Joe Biden. Walk-ups are welcome at those sites, and people can register for a shot at myvaccine.fl.gov.
When DeSantis said Friday he would allow police, firefighters and school employees 50 and older to get their shots, farmworkers' advocates complained that would leave out agricultural laborers, most of whom are immigrants or Hispanic. They are less likely to have Florida identification or good internet connections they can use to secure vaccine appointments.
In total, health care workers have injected 3,462,520 people statewide with at least one jab of COVID-19 vaccine, including 297,512 in Palm Beach County.
Florida's coronavirus death toll stood Saturday at 32,200, a 77-person increase since Friday. Deaths take weeks to enter state statistics as they are processed by local medical examiners and sent to state health officials.
Palm Beach County added two more people to its death toll Saturday, bringing it to 2,553.
Hospitals statewide counted 3,532 COVID-19 patients Saturday, up 124 from Friday but far less than the 7,761 reported Jan. 14.
Coronavirus update
County: 123,033 cases, 2,553 deaths
State: 1,940,897 cases, 32,200 deaths
US: 28,939,986 cases, 524,085 deaths
World: 116,369,587 cases, 2,584,759 deaths