Florida's latest COVID surge may be slowing, death rates still climbing

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.

The latest coronavirus surge across Florida appears to be slowing, just in time for school to start up again. (What do you do if your student tests positive? Most mandatory restrictions are gone now but here are one school district's suggestions.) COVID-19 hospitalizations have been stable the past few weeks, viral concentrations in sewage have dropped, testing positivity rates statewide have declined, and Florida’s official caseload remains flat.

But the death toll here continues to climb at rates we haven't seen since March. Nationwide, the pace of COVID-19 deaths has remained relatively steady since May, despite an uptick in July to about 400 a day, according to a USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins University data, in what one doctor called a "horrible plateau.”

“It’s been this way for the past couple of months," said Dr. Daniel Griffin, an infectious disease specialist with Pro Health Care in New York and a clinical instructor of medicine at Columbia University, "and we’re getting used to it.”

ALSO IN THE NEWS: Most nursing homes lost more than half their nurses and aides last year after COVID outbreaks and they haven't replaced them, four candidates for the Sarasota County Hospital Board with concerns about the COVID vaccine and the usefulness of masking hope to influence one of the nation’s premier hospital systems, and President Joe Biden ended his isolation after testing negative again.

FROM A READER: "Is the monkey pox vaccine available in Florida?" We're sticking to COVID-19 in this newsletter for now, although Florida is nearing 1,000 monkeypox cases. But I did write a Q&A on monkeypox and what it looks like, so check here for details. Short answer: Yes, but. The two-shot monkeypox vaccine (really smallpox vaccine) is available but only through county health departments and health care facilities that have ordered doses from the health department. It's not at pharmacies or many healthcare clinics.

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. 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.

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— C. A. Bridges, USA TODAY - Florida Network DOT Producer

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Florida's latest COVID surge may be slowing, death rates still climbing