‘The decline is real:’ Multiple factors explain drop in COVID-19 cases, health experts say

TAMPA, Florida – In recent weeks, the number of new daily COVID-19 cases has declined in Florida and across the country.

It may be a sign that we have exceeded the expected surge after the holidays, but hospitalizations and deaths associated with the virus are two other key indicators being watched by doctors. While they’re also down, experts say the numbers still aren’t low enough to let our guards down.

The Florida Department of Health reported 3,787 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday. This follows a steady decline from just two weeks ago, on February 1, when we saw over 10,000 new cases.

“The decline is real,” said Dr. Marissa Levine, professor of public health at USF. “The exact numbers are probably not as helpful because what we have seen is a decrease in testing and therefore we may not be seeing all of the cases that exist.”

But what Dr. Levine says we are Seeing is a drop in hospitalizations and deaths associated with COVID-19, key indicators of what’s really going on. State data also shows that emergency room visits have been declining since the start of 2021.

“I want to warn everyone that we are still at fairly high levels of illness in the community and even hospitalization,” Levine said. “We are still seeing a significant number of deaths from COVID.”

While tackling vaccine-related scams, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “Florida is turning the corner with vaccinations surpassing infections. This is great news, but it would be a mistake to let your guard down now. “

So far, nearly 2.4 million Floridians have received their first dose of the vaccine. 1.1 million received their second dose.

“In Florida, we’ve only vaccinated about 11%, maybe a little more of our population, so neither of us thinks that alone is the key factor,” Levine said. “It may start to show a bigger and bigger impact as the number of people vaccinated increases. It will be a factor. It just won’t be a major factor immediately.”

With Florida leading the country with 379 cases of COVID-19 linked to the UK variant, the next few weeks will be crucial to see if this decline continues, especially after the big Super Bowl celebrations.

“Unfortunately, we’re still seeing some pretty high numbers,” Levine said. “These numbers look good now, but they wouldn’t be good if we were talking about the end of spring, the beginning of summer before this second big wave.

While there are many factors at play here, Dr Levine said we are in decline and that is good news. We can continue, but it will require us to do our part, individually and collectively.