Is COVID surge coming to an end in Palm Beach County again? Here's the latest to know

Chris Persaud, Palm Beach Post
Updated ·2 min read
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The late summer COVID-19 surge of 2023 is ending in Palm Beach County and across Florida as the disease’s latest version leaves fewer fatalities in its wake than previous summer outbreaks.

Coronavirus concentrations in sewage fell last week statewide, fewer COVID tests countywide and statewide are coming back positive and COVID-positive patient counts are declining, federal, state and local data show. And the latest COVID surge’s death toll remains much lower than all past waves, state health statistics show.

Testing conducted Wednesday found 403 viral particles per milliliter of sewage from the Jupiter-area's Loxahatchee River District, a 75% plunge from the Aug. 23 summer high. That test was done by Boston-based Biobot Analytics. The national WastewaterSCAN initiative also reported Wednesday that coronavirus concentrations in the district’s sewage had dropped 26% since Sept. 11.

What's happening with COVID tests in Palm Beach County and Florida?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending that everyone age 6 months and up get the updated COVID vaccine.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending that everyone age 6 months and up get the updated COVID vaccine.

More good news could be found Friday in the Florida Department of Health’s biweekly COVID report, which showed 16.4% of COVID tests it collected last week in Palm Beach County came back positive. That’s about six points lower than the week ending Sept. 1. Statewide positivity levels then and now are almost identical.

Measuring the COVID current wave through case counts alone has become impossible because most people take at-home tests, whose results rarely show up in official statistics.

COVID-positive hospitalizations falling in Florida

Hospitals statewide tended to 1,785 COVID-positive patients, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last reported Sept. 9, down from a summer high of 1,985 on Sept. 5.

COVID’s has killed at least 2,235 during the 16 weeks ending Friday, state Health Department statistics show. That’s about a third as much as the state recorded during a similar period in 2022.

How does the latest COVID vaccine shot do against the prevalent strains?

The newest COVID vaccine, which federal officials say is strong against the latest coronavirus mutations, is now available in pharmacies such as CVS and Walgreens. It is designed to target the pathogen’s XBB strain, a subvariant of the original omicron variant from late 2021.

Four of the latest omicron subvariants — EG.5, FL.1.5.1, XBB.1.16.6 and XBB.1.16 — comprise the majority of infections nationwide. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says the latest shots have proved effective against the dominant strains based on laboratory tests.

COVID’s total statewide death toll is 90,740 people, excluding more than 3,000 patients whom state auditors found by combing through records from 2020 in which physicians classified someone's cause of death as COVID, but the state Health Department did not.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Is COVID's summer surge receding in Palm Beach County and Florida?