Florida shows largest 1-day increase in COVID-19 in past 2 weeks

JACKSONVILLE, Florida – Florida added 15,019 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases in data released by the state’s health department on Saturday – this is the highest number the state has seen in a single day in last two weeks.

The last time Florida reported more than 15,000 cases was on Jan.15, when the state saw 16,875.

Statewide, 1.7 million people have tested positive for COVID-19 and 26,795 have died since the first case was reported on March 1.

A day after positivity rates soared across the board, Friday’s test numbers returned to previous levels with a state-level 6.62 percent positivity rate and no county over 10 percent.

The Florida Department of Health reported 110 deaths attributed to COVID-19 on Saturday. Four additional deaths in Duval County have pushed Jacksonville to more than 900 deaths since the start of the pandemic. St. Johns and Putnam reported three more deaths each, Nassau added two and Alachua added one.

The total number of coronavirus patients in Duval County since the start of the pandemic has exceeded 81,000.

A d

As vaccinations administered in Florida have risen to 1.65 million, supplies are still limited and there are concerns that only about 5% of residents who received their first dose are black and 8% Hispanic. Overall, blacks make up 17% of the state’s population and Hispanics 23%.

The state Hispanic Federation on Friday called on DeSantis to “quickly remove cultural barriers” preventing vaccination in the community, saying they were twice as likely to contract the disease as white residents.

Dr Fred Southwick, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Florida, said the vaccine had not yet been distributed widely enough to reduce the number of cases. Instead, he attributed the current decline to the fact that anyone who caught the virus at a Christmas or New Year’s gathering has now been diagnosed.

He said it remains important for Floridians to wear masks and avoid large gatherings as new mutations coming to the state are more contagious.

A d

“We didn’t get out of the woods,” he said.

His UF colleague Dr Glenn Morris Jr. said that while there is no indication that two other contagious mutations of the virus circulating in the UK and South Africa are prevalent in Florida, further testing is being carried out. required. He said only 200 samples per week out of 80,000 positive tests are being checked for variants. He called on the state to make better use of its private and university laboratories.