As BA.5 COVID wave diminishes, death toll rises. But risk of infection still high

Chris Persaud, Palm Beach Post
·3 min read
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Most signs continue to show the latest coronavirus wave receding across Florida.

The numbers from COVID-19 hospitalizations, case counts and most sewage readings have declined in the past week, continuing a trend that started late last month.

Florida hospitals tended to 3,193 COVID-positive patients Friday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported. That's the fewest since June 19.

That includes 379 adults in intensive care units, the lowest number since June 27.

A health care worker administers the COVID-19 vaccine.
A health care worker administers the COVID-19 vaccine.

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Wastewater readings this week show that the number of coronavirus particles continues to drop across Florida. Data collected by Boston-based Biobot Analytics from water treatment facilities in Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, Orange and Pinellas counties show viral levels continuing their weeks-long plunge since late July.

In Hillsborough, Seminole counties, wastewater indicates rise in COVID

But in Seminole County, just north of Orange County, sewage samples collected Wednesday have about 28% more genetic viral molecules compared with two weeks prior.

And in Tampa Bay's Hillsborough County, coronavirus levels in wastewater are 11% higher than last week.

Wastewater can reveal COVID trends faster than official case counts. Infected people often shed the most virus at the beginning of their infection. Sewage testing can give the public and health officials a five- to 10-day lead on the prevalence of new clinical cases.

Danny Tomasello, a laboratory technician at the Loxahatchee River Environmental Control District, processes a wastewater sample for delivery to Biobot.
Danny Tomasello, a laboratory technician at the Loxahatchee River Environmental Control District, processes a wastewater sample for delivery to Biobot.

The Florida Department of Health logged an average of 44,573 new cases each week between Aug. 12 and Friday. That's the lowest weekly average since May 6. The state publishes its COVID reports biweekly.

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As COVID case counts and hospitalizations continue to decline, fewer counties are at high risk of straining their health-care systems, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.

The CDC no longer recommends indoor masking in counties such as Palm Beach, Broward, Orange, Leon or most places in the Florida Panhandle. But the agency still recommends it in Miami-Dade, Duval, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties as well as smaller counties such as Sarasota, Alachua, Polk, Martin and St. Lucie.

The risk of catching the virus, however, remains "high" in all of Florida's 67 counties, the CDC said Thursday, because recent COVID case counts and rates of infection remain high at 16.2%.

While Florida's caseload falls, its weekly death sums are rising, as fatalities can take weeks to process and enter official statistics.

Florida's COVID death toll increased by an average 507 people per week since Aug. 12, the highest level since the two weeks ending March 25.

Vaccinations statewide continue to climb sluggishly. About 16 million Florida residents have received at least one shot, state health officials reported Friday.

About 72% of all eligible residents have gotten vaccinated, a ratio mostly unchanged during this past summer, as subvariants of the coronavirus' omicron strain swept Florida.

COVID has infected about 7 million Floridians and killed at least 79,573. That excludes more than 3,000 victims who state auditors found by combing through records from 2020 where physicians classified someone's cause of death as COVID, but the state Health Department did not. 

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 BA.5 wave recedes; death toll rises; infection risk high