Latest COVID wave less deadly but some Palm Beach County sewage tests indicate another uptick

Chris Persaud, Palm Beach Post
·2 min read
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As victims from the latest COVID-19 wave enter Florida statistics, state data shows it was far less deadly than previous surges, while some Palm Beach County sewage tests indicate another uptick of infections.

State health officials logged slightly more fatalities in September than August, but far fewer compared with the same period of the previous two years.

The Florida Department of Health recorded 946 deaths from Sept. 1 to 29, higher than the 667 documented Aug. 4 to Sept. 1, its biweekly COVID reports show. The latest surge ended in late September, but fatalities can take weeks to be processed into official statistics.

The department counted 1,275 victims from Sept. 9 to Oct. 7 in 2022. And 8,975 from Sept. 3 to Oct. 1, 2021.

A student in Gainesville receives the FluMist vaccine. Health officials say the flu is an extra worry this season as the COVID-19 virus continues to thrive. They urge everyone to get vaccinated.
A student in Gainesville receives the FluMist vaccine. Health officials say the flu is an extra worry this season as the COVID-19 virus continues to thrive. They urge everyone to get vaccinated.

Hospitals across Florida tended to 1,336 COVID-positive patients as of Sept. 23, down from nearly 2,000 earlier that month, the latest data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services shows.

How coronavirus levels have changed in Palm Beach County sewage

Palm Beach County, meanwhile, is seeing a slight increase in coronavirus particles in its Jupiter-area sewage.

Loxahatchee River District wastewater had about 408 viral genetic fragments per milliliter in samples tested Sept. 25. That’s 65% lower than test results from Aug. 23, but higher than the 274 particles per milliliter Sept. 11. Boston-based Biobot Analytics conducted those tests.

But testing from the national WastewaterSCAN initiative does not show an increase. Results from Sept. 27 found 47 viral particles per milligram, down 57% from Sept. 11.

WastewaterSCAN tests conducted Sept. 27 also show Influenza B levels barely changed from a week prior at about 8.3 flu virus particles per milligram of solid sewage. Test results from that day also show the norovirus stomach bug down slightly from mid-September — 5,262 viral copies per milligram Sept. 27 compared with about 6,770 per milligram Sept. 15.

COVID has killed at least 91,178 people in Florida, excluding more than 3,000 victims 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.

Chris Persaud is The Palm Beach Post's data reporter. Email him at cpersaud@pbpost.com. Click @ChrisMPersaud and follow him on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: How deadly was Florida's latest COVID wave compared to previous ones?