Some Tampa Bay stores out of COVID-19 test kits after uptick in cases in Florida
Home COVID-19 test kits have sold out at some Tampa Bay area stores and pharmacies as Florida recorded an uptick in the number of weekly cases of the virus.
Pharmacy giants say there is plenty of supply, but there were empty shelves at several area CVS and Walgreens stores and some grocery stores on Monday, where store workers reported demand for tests has increased in recent weeks.
It comes as the number of weekly cases in Florida rose to more than 18,000 this month, roughly double the average in July, according to Florida Department of Health weekly reports. Forty-one deaths from COVID-19 were reported in a seven-day period through Thursday.
Hospitals have also reported an increase in the number of patients admitted for COVID-19, with more than 1,300 adults and 34 children in state hospitals as of Aug. 5, according to data compiled by the Department of Health and Human Services. That’s up from about 650 in June.
The rise in cases is not considered a surge, and Florida is far below the peak of 427,000 weekly cases recorded in January 2022, when the omicron variant was spreading rapidly across the state. But the increase is reason enough to warrant care, said Jason Salemi, an associate professor and epidemiologist at the University of South Florida. Residents should take care not to risk infecting older people and those with existing health conditions that leave them at higher risk for infection.
“We’re way lower than we’ve been in past years but there’s cause for paying more attention and taking some precautionary efforts,” Salemi said. “An infection of COVID-19 is not as simple for them as it would be for some people.”
There may be several factors behind the recent increase, including increased travel, the return of children to schools after the summer break and the extreme hot weather driving more people into confined indoor spaces, like malls.
Immunity among the population may also be waning with it now being more than a year since the last surge in Florida, Salemi said.
Nationally, the rate of hospitalizations from COVID-19 is also increasing, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There were more than 10,300 admissions as of Aug. 5, up from 6,469 on July 1.
Variants have also emerged since the bivalent booster shot was approved. EG.5, known informally as eris, has surpassed the XBB.1.16, or arcturus, as the dominant variant in the United States. Eris accounted for 20.6% of cases in the United States at the end of the third week of August, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
CVS spokesperson Matt Blanchette said the pharmacy firm has ample supply of home test kits to meet demand and restock stores that may experience a temporary shortage. Test kits were available at some local Walmart stores and online at Amazon.com and others.
