COVID-19 update: 17 new Ocala/Marion school cases last week; quarantines down to 57

The number of COVID-19 quarantines dropped by 15% last week in area schools, while the number of new COVID-19 cases climbed by two since the last report, according to the Marion County Public Schools' weekly report.

Monday's school report shows 17 people (13 students and four employees) tested positive for COVID-19 during the week ending Dec. 3, compared to 15 for the week ending Nov. 19. The district was closed during Thanksgiving week, ending Nov. 26.

Cases in schools have dropped by 97.7% since late August. The record for COVID-19 school cases in one week was 733 from Aug. 21-27.

How to get kids vaccinated: Marion offers vaccines to children ages 5-11

Last report:Ocala/Marion school cases plateaued; quarantines drop by 66%

Marion County Public Schools, the county's largest employer, educates about 42,500 students using 7,000 employees at 51 schools and dozens of district offices. The county is larger in size than Rhode Island.

There were 57 people (55 students and two employees) placed under quarantine during the week ending Dec. 3, compared to 67 for Nov. 13-19, 195 from Nov. 6-12, 125 for Oct. 30-Nov. 5, and the record 3,404 for Aug. 21-27.

That's a week-over-week decrease in quarantines of 15%, and a decrease of 98.3% in the past three months. Communitywide, there has also been a downward trend in cases, positivity rate and hospitalizations.

The number of new cases for all of Marion County ticked up to 165 for Nov. 26-Dec.2, up from 145 for Nov. 19-25 and 129 for Nov. 12-18. The latest tally is fewer than 230 cases for Oct. 22-28, as well as the record 3,228 for Aug. 21-27.

That's an increase in cases of 13.8% in one week, but a decline of 94.9% since late August, state Department of Health data shows.

Total COVID-19 cases in Marion now stand at 57,460, which means 1 in 6.5 Marion residents has been infected. Marion's COVID-19 deaths remain at 1,751, or 3% of those who have been infected with COVID-19 in Marion.

From Aug. 20-26, Marion recorded a seven-day record of 3,228 cases, or an average of 461 per day. The winter surge peak, which was then a record, was 1,988 (284 per day) in one week.

Marion continues to see decline

Marion County's seven-day total of new hospitalizations was 18 on Monday, down from 23 on Nov. 22, 20 on Nov. 15 and up from 16 on Nov. 8, according to federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

Eleven weeks ago the total was 350. The seven-day positivity rate is also low: It was 3.15% on Dec. 6, up from 2.79% on Nov. 22 and 2.81% on Nov. 15, through down from 3.54% on Nov. 9. On Aug. 12, Marion County's seven-day positivity rate was 30%.

The Florida Department of Health reported Friday that Marion's seven-day positivity rate was 3% for the week of Nov. 26-Dec. 2, up slightly from a week ago.

In all, 219,667 Marion County residents have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. That is an increase of 3,637 vaccinations in two weeks.

The report shows that 68% of Marion residents ages 12 and older have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine, while 88.3% of residents ages 65 and older have had at least one dose. The data shows that 60.1% of Marion's entire population has had one dose.

— Contact Joe Callahan at (352) 817-1750 or at joe.callahan@starbanner.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoeOcalaNews.

This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: COVID: 17 new cases in Ocala/Marion schools; quarantines drop 15%