Okaloosa County's COVID cases up 75%; Florida cases fall 3.4%

Mike Stucka
·3 min read

Okaloosa and Walton counties continued to see increases in reported COVID-19 cases last week as statewide cases dropped slightly.

Okaloosa reported 3,353 cases during the week ending Sunday. That was a 75% jump from the previous week, when 1,916 cases were reported. Throughout the pandemic 41,666 case have been reported in the county.

In Walton, 886 cases were reported last week. That was 54.6% increase from the previous week, when 573 cases were reported. The county has reported 14,818 cases throughout the pandemic.

Florida reported 408,841 new cases of coronavirus last week, down 3.4% from the previous week. Then, 423,150 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19 were reported.

A COVID-19 patient on a ventilator is checked by Megan Lee, a resident nurse at Stormont Vail Health, inside the COVID-19 intensive care unit at the hospital in Topeka, Kansas, on Jan. 7.
A COVID-19 patient on a ventilator is checked by Megan Lee, a resident nurse at Stormont Vail Health, inside the COVID-19 intensive care unit at the hospital in Topeka, Kansas, on Jan. 7.

Previous week's numbers: Okaloosa County's COVID cases up 122.3%; Florida cases surge 40%

Omicron surge: Walton County stepping up COVID testing, vaccination efforts after surge in positive tests

Florida ranked 11th among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the latest week coronavirus cases in the United States increased 5.8% from the week before, with 5,438,242 cases reported. With 6.45% of the country's population, Florida had 7.52% of the country's cases in the last week. Across the country, 39 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before.

Many counties did not report during data during the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, disrupting the latest week's statistics. That data is being compared to a week with backlogged cases and deaths from the New Year's holiday weekend. Week-to-week comparisons are skewed and these numbers will be unreliable even as they're accurate to what states reported.

Across Florida, cases fell in four counties, with the greatest declines in Miami-Dade County, with 93,321 cases from 110,441 a week earlier; in Palm Beach County, with 26,866 cases from 29,147; and in Broward County, with 48,103 cases from 50,254.

>> See how your community has fared with recent coronavirus cases

Florida ranked 18th among states in share of people receiving at least one shot, with 75.5% of its residents at least partially vaccinated. The national rate is 74.6%, a USA TODAY analysis of CDC data shows. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which are the most used in the United States, require two doses administered a few weeks apart.

The worst weekly outbreaks in Florida on a per-person basis were in Miami-Dade County with 3,435 cases per 100,000 per week; Broward County with 2,463; and Alachua County with 2,427. The Centers for Disease Control says high levels of community transmission begin at 100 cases per 100,000 per week.

Adding the most new cases overall were Miami-Dade County, with 93,321 cases; Broward County, with 48,103 cases; and Orange County, with 30,752. Weekly case counts rose in 63 counties from the previous week. The worst increases from the prior week's pace were in Duval, Brevard and Pinellas counties.

A total of 5,041,918 people in Florida have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 62,504 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States 65,699,947 people have tested positive and 850,605 people have died.

>> Track coronavirus cases across the United States

Florida's COVID-19 hospital admissions rising

USA TODAY analyzed federal hospital data as of Sunday, Jan. 16.

Likely COVID patients admitted in the state:

  • Last week: 16,971

  • The week before that: 15,986

  • Four weeks ago: 3,039

Likely COVID patients admitted in the nation:

  • Last week: 203,221

  • The week before that: 185,954

  • Four weeks ago: 90,739

Hospitals in 41 states reported more COVID-19 patients than a week earlier, while hospitals in 35 states had more COVID-19 patients in intensive-care beds. Hospitals in 43 states admitted more COVID-19 patients in the latest week than a week prior, the USA TODAY analysis of U.S. Health and Human Services data shows.

This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Okaloosa County COVID cases increased by 3,353 this week