After 2 years, Biden says the COVID pandemic is over. Is it?

Welcome to today's edition of the Florida Coronavirus Watch Newsletter, which comes out once a week on Mondays with alerts for breaking COVID-19 news.

NOTE: Depending on what Hurricane Ian does this week we may skip the CoronavirusWatch newsletter next Monday. Stay safe, everyone.

According to President Biden last week, the pandemic is over. Is it? Experts, the CDC and the World Health Organization disagree, and saying so may put some emergency aid programs at risk. Nearly 3,000 Americans are still dying from COVID-19 each week. But we are in a better place than we have been, and reported case levels in Florida have dropped to levels not seen since spring.

BIWEEKLY UPDATE: Unlike most states which report coronavirus data directly to the public multiple times a week or daily, Florida reports every other week with the summary only listing the increase for the previous seven days, entirely skipping a week of data. State reports include only Florida residents and not visitors for cases and deaths, but do include visitors for vaccination totals.

Subtracting the state's Sept. 9 report from the Sept. 23 one, we get:

• New COVID-19 cases in the previous two weeks: 40,419

• Total COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began: 7,106,653 (7,150,188 per Johns Hopkins)

• New COVID-19 deaths in the previous two weeks: 753

• Total COVID-19 deaths since the pandemic began: 81,139

• Last week's testing positivity: State report: 8.4%, Johns Hopkins: 11.74%

In the latest week COVID-19 cases in Florida were about 1.9 times what the CDC says is a high level of community transmission. A Sunday report said the state had 2,030 COVID-19 patients in hospital beds, from 2,288 a week earlier.

State death counts from COVID-19 tend to get updated and revised so that number may not reflect actual deaths occurring in that time period. Sources: Florida Department of Health COVID report, U.S. Health and Human Services (hospitalizations)

ALSO IN THE NEWS: A 6-year-old reunited with the Sarasota medical team that saved her life after COVID-induced asthma, a study has found that 10.5 million children were orphaned or lost a primary caregiver due to COVID, and 47 people have been charged with siphoning $250 million from a COVID-19 child meal program.

FACT CHECK: No, ivermectin has not been approved as a COVID-19 treatment by the NIH. Here's why.

FRAUD ALERT: Improper claims from doctors and telehealth providers cost Medicare $128 million in the first year of the COVID pandemic, according to a new federal report.

FROM A READER: "You just said that you can get the new booster as soon as your symptoms from having COVID previously are resolved. I saw in another source where you are supposed to wait 3 months after having COVID before getting the new vaccine. Please clarify." You're right, I wasn't clear. I was responding to the question of how long you have to wait after having COVID before you can get the booster, and I should have been more precise.

The new booster shot is authorized to be received at least two months after the previous dose. If you catch COVID and you've completed your isolation period, you're symptom-free AND it's been at least two months since your last shot, you can get the new booster.

But when should you get it? There are conflicting opinions.

Getting a case of COVID provides you with some immunity for a while, and some experts say there's no need to get a booster during that time (at least three months) when you can wait and use the booster to extend your protection instead.

The new booster has been reformulated to directly attack the BA.4 and BA.5 variants as well as the original strain of the coronavirus, and CDC Director Rochelle P. Walensky has recommended that people get that one as soon as possible. "If you are eligible, there is no bad time to get your COVID-19 booster and I strongly encourage you to receive it," she said in the release announcing it.

So, you can wait up to three or four months or so, but if you're high-risk or you live in a high-transmission area you may want to get it closer to two months. Pfizer has asked the FDA to approve the new booster for children ages 5-11.

Anything you'd like to know? Send us your questions.

COVID INFO: See our COVID-19 resource guide here. Compare the spread of COVID-19 in your area here with our free database. Here's how to tell if you have the flu, a cold, or COVID-19, and all about the tests. Here's what to do if you test positive for COVID, and what we know about long COVID.

Thank you for reading! We appreciate you trusting our statewide journalists to keep you safe and informed. If you are encouraged by our work and want to support your local journalists, please consider subscribing. Know someone who would benefit from this newsletter? Forward this email so they can sign up.

— C.A. Bridges, digital producer for USA TODAY Network-Florida

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: After 2 years, Biden says the COVID pandemic is over. Is it?