Florida's COVID cases jump to highest level in two months

Welcome to today's edition of the Florida Coronavirus Watch Newsletter.

As COVID cases and, consequently, COVID-related news dwindle, we have reduced the frequency of our Coronavirus Watch Newsletter to twice weekly. You can expect the newsletter in your inbox Mondays and Thursdays — or as urgent news dictates. Thank you for reading.

Florida COVID-19 data

Unlike most states which report coronavirus data directly to the public multiple times a week or daily, Florida reports every other week and then only for the previous seven days, skipping a week of data. State reports include only Florida residents and not visitors for cases and deaths, but do include visitors for vaccination numbers.

Subtracting the state's April 22 report from the May 6 one, we get:

• New COVID-19 cases in the previous two weeks: 59,430

• Total COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began: 5,958,618 (6,002,153 per Johns Hopkins)

• New COVID-19 deaths in the previous two weeks: 230

• Total COVID-19 deaths since the pandemic began: 74,060

• Last week's testing positivity: State report: 9.0%, Johns Hopkins: 11.89%

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.

In the latest week COVID-19 cases in Florida were about 2.8 times what the CDC says is a high level of community transmission. A Sunday report said the state had 1,338 COVID-19 patients in hospital beds, from 1,458 a week earlier.

Sources: Florida Department of Health COVID report, U.S. Health and Human Services (hospitalizations)

Here's what's happening

- Florida's COVID cases have jumped to the highest level in two months, but hospitalizations remain low. State health officials logged the biggest increase in new cases since late February, but hospitalizations remain lower than before the omicron variant engulfed Florida.

Florida has logged an average of 29,715 new infections each week since April 22, data released Friday by the state Health Department shows, the biggest jump since Feb. 25.

- What will COVID look like this summer? More cases, but probably not as devastating as the last two summers or the recent omicron surge. Unlike before, now most of the U.S. population now has some immunity from vaccines, boosters and previous infections, plus we have antivirals that can prevent hospitalizations in the unvaccinated. But immunity wanes, new variants can come, and it's easy to get complacent.

“I know we all want to be done with COVID, but I don’t think it’s done with us,” said Dr. Jessica Justman, associate professor of medicine in epidemiology and senior technical director of ICAP at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.

- FDA restricts use of Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine due to blood clot risk. After the single-dose vaccine was authorized in February 2021, the FDA and CDC temporarily paused administering the shot in April after reports of blood clots in a small number of people who received it. The pause was lifted 11 days later, with the health agencies determining the benefits of the J&J vaccine outweighed the risks.

But the FDA has reversed course, ruling the risks of the side effect, called thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, outweigh the benefits. The condition, also known as vaccine-induced thrombatic thrombocytopenia, is the combination of a blood clot with low platelet count. The blood clots form in unusual places, such as veins that drain blood from the brain.

- Honoring those we've lost: Law enforcement officers who died from COVID-19 last year have been added to memorial walls around the state during recent annual memorial events: Nassau County Sheriff's Office Deputy Jack Gwynes, Sgt. William Diaz and Sgt. Steven Mazzotta from the Lee County Sheriff's Office, and Polk County sheriff's deputy Christopher Broadhead.

In all, 23 of the 30 sheriff's officers and deputies added to the Florida Sheriff's Association Memorial Wall in April died from COVID-19.

- 'Overwhelming' exhaustion: COVID leaves 66% of working parents burnt out, study suggests. A new study has found that 66% of working parents meet the criteria for parental burnout – which occurs when chronic stress and exhaustion overwhelms a parent’s ability to function and cope.

“’Parental burnout.’ When I heard that, I thought, ‘That’s it. That’s what I’m feeling,’” Kate Gawlik, associate professor at Ohio State's College of Nursing, co-author of the report and mother of four, said in a university news release. “It’s just this overwhelming sense of having to be on 24/7 in so many different roles and just having to be invested in those roles so intensely."

COVID info to know

COVID-19 will be an issue for a long time to come, and we think more education is better. Here's what you need to know.

ABOUT COVID

• Your complete guide to coronavirus and COVID-19

• Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson vaccine booster shots: Things to know

• Where and when can I get a booster/second booster in Florida?

• This story is free for everyone: Compare the spread of COVID-19 in your area

AVOIDING COVID

• Why N95, KN95 masks are so much more effective against omicron than cloth

• Are N95 and KN95 masks reusable and how should you store them?

• Can you avoid COVID if a member in your household has it? Ways to decrease your risk

• Do I still need to wear a mask? What the new CDC COVID mask guidance means for Florida

TESTING

• Is it the flu, a cold, or COVID-19? How to know, and when to get tested

• What's the difference between at-home tests, over-the-counter rapid tests, and PCR tests?

DO YOU HAVE COVID?

• Were you exposed to coronavirus? Did you test positive? If so, here's what to do next

• Long COVID: Why aren't my symptoms going away? Why did they come back? Am I a long-hauler?

What do you want to know about COVID-19? You ask, we'll try to answer

From a reader: "Where to get Evusheld?"

That depends on how lucky you are. A monoclonal antibody called Evusheld from AstraZeneca has been shown to prevent severe disease in people with weakened immune systems, who may not get full protection from vaccines. But it's not available everywhere. The federal government ordered 700,000 doses at the beginning of the year, which was a tiny amount compared to the number of COVID patients, and then the FDA doubled the recommended dosage in February after more analysis of its effects on certain omicron variants.

Ordering more by the federal government also was slowed by the fight over additional COVID-19 funding.

The Florida Department of Health provides a locator map to help you find clinics and health care facilities that can provide Evusheld, but it's not a guarantee they will have it. Please contact the facilities closest to you to ask.

Anything you'd like to know? Ask your questions here.

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.

Chris' note of the day: I hope everyone had a good Mothers' Day, whatever your own family situation. My mom died on May 8 eight years ago, which made yesterday a little bittersweet for me, but my wife got a nice lazy day with lunch at her favorite place, a long phone call from one son and a dinner coming tonight with the other. How was your Mothers' Day?

Here's what else is happening with the coronavirus in Florida today.

— C. A. Bridges, cbridges@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Florida's COVID cases jump to highest level in two months