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The latest coronavirus outbreak is disappearing in Florida, each and every major indicator shows it.
Hospitalizations, recently recorded infections, test positivity rates, and viral levels in wastewater are declining, while recently recorded deaths, a lagging statistic, are slowly rising.
Hospitals across the state had fewer COVID-positive patients on Friday than seven days earlier, the first time since last March that this has happened.
On Friday, doctors treated 3,855 COVID patients, a drop of another 347 people over the past week, the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services reported. USA
On Friday, the Florida Department of Health recorded an average of 59,959 new infections per week since its last biweekly report on July 29. That’s the lowest number since May 20.
More COVID in Florida: The wave turns out to flatten with new infections, hospitalizations remain
In addition, 18. 4 percent of state tests came back positive last week, up from 21. 2 percent in the week ending July 15.
While many COVID cases never appear in official statistics due to the accumulation of internal and asymptomatic infections, test positivity trends have reflected the number of cases and hospitalizations.
Lab testing also reduces coronavirus waste in Florida wastewater.
The number of genetic viral fragments detected in wastewater in six counties — Palm Beach, Miami-Dade, Orange, Seminole, Hillsborough and Pinellas — has declined since last July, according to sampling by Boston-based Biobot Analytics.
However, cases and hospitalizations remain high enough in most parts of Florida that the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been able to do so. U. S. agencies continue to recommend indoor mask wearing in the remaining three counties (Glades, Taylor, and Holmes) to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed.
But, as the school year begins, local governments and school districts can no longer expand regulations on indoor masks because of executive orders and legislation Gov. Ron DeSantis passed last year.
More: COVID in Palm Beach County Wastewater Testing Indicates Sharp Drop Looming
The number of COVID deaths in Florida has risen with an average of 497 patients each week since July 29, according to data from the state Department of Health, the highest point since March 25. Deaths can take weeks to enter official statistics.
COVID has killed at least 78,559 citizens since the beginning of the pandemic.
The state’s official death count excludes more than 3,000 people whom doctors called patients from the disease in 2020, state auditors said last June. The Florida Department of Health said it does not plan to come with those patients.
New vaccines remain slow across the state, as they have since the original omicron mutation spread across Florida.
An estimated 72% of eligible Floridians have at least one bullet in their arm, state health officials said Friday. Only 25% of children older than five to 11 years and 1. 8% of those older than 6 months to four years are vaccinated.
Death Rate: Florida COVID-19 Deaths Take Off Amid Underestimated Increase in BA. 5
DeSantis made Florida the only state that saved pediatricians from ordering vaccines in advance for younger children in June before the federal government approved vaccines for young children. And his personally elected surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo, is the only one in the country who put forward not vaccinating young people.
Chris Persaud is the knowledge reporter for the Palm Beach Post. Email cpersaud@pbpost. com.
This article was originally published in the Palm Beach Post: Florida’s COVID wave is receding, according to federal figures