A few days after Hurricane Ian tore through Florida, it’s unclear whether the storm’s aftermath may pose a threat to the spread of COVID-19.
Cases, hospitalizations and deaths continue to decline from their summer highs, but not at a much faster rate than before the storm. Meanwhile, public fitness officials at southwest Florida’s devastated maximum speeds say they have COVID materials for others who need them.
Masks and hand sanitizers should be kept at Lee County hurricane shelters, said Timothy Engstrom, a spokesman for the county’s state-run fitness department. The Collier County Health Department has COVID supplies, spokeswoman Kristine Hollingsworth said, and does not plan to ask for more.
About 63. 5% of citizens of Lee County, where Fort Myers is located, and 72% of Collier County, home to Naples, won the initial two-dose treatment of Moderna and Pfizer or Johnson’s single-injection formula.
People who are not vaccinated are five times more likely to die from COVID infections than those who received initial treatment, according to the most recent CDC figures in July.
The main fear is if other people live in overcrowded situations, such as shelters,” said Dr. Brown. Mary Jo Trepka, chair of the Department of Epidemiology at Florida International University in Miami. “Flu and COVID vaccination are especially for other people who would possibly be in such situations, especially if it looks like it will be for a long time.
“Improving ventilation as much as possible would also help,” he wrote in an email. “Masks would also help, as long as other people are willing and able to wear them. “
Crowds at sites or outlets can also give the virus a chance to spread. But the airborne pathogen has a harder time infecting other people outdoors in windy conditions.
And an article recently published in the British medical journal Lancet shows no detectable increase in infection in the summer of 2020 among Louisiana evacuees who were moved from Lake Charles to New Orleans when Hurricane Laura hit the region.
The number of cases also didn’t pile up in New Orleans after surviving the direct hit of Hurricane Ida in the summer of 2021, when the delta variant drove a surge in the South. And COVID infections haven’t piled up, particularly in Palm Beach County. after SunFest attracted tens of thousands of others for several days in May in downtown West Palm Beach, or after the Palm Beach International Boat Show followed suit in March.
Health officials have recorded fewer than 1,000 new COVID cases per day in Florida since Tuesday, when Hurricane Ian devastated the region, the CDC reported Friday. Last week, each and every one of the two days saw increases of more than 2,000 infections per day.
But even before that, the number of new cases had declined since July. Health officials have documented just 12,000 cases in the past week, the CDC reports. This is the lowest point since the beginning of April.
It’s unclear to what extent the downward trend across the state in recent days is due to a lack of reports from southwest Florida.
Florida hospitals that reported COVID patient statistics Friday treated 1,609 patients who tested positive for the disease, less than a portion of the summer peak, which was due to BA. 4 and BA. 5 mutations in the omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Wastewater in Florida continues to show decreasing degrees of coronavirus. Wastewater readings from Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, Orange, Pinellas and Seminole counties show fewer virus particles, or the same amount, since mid-August, according to Boston-based Biobot Analytics. laboratory.
Southwest Florida counties send wastewater samples to Biobot.
The death toll in Florida rose to 277 in the seven days ending Friday, according to a comparison of data from the CDC and the state department of fitness. This is the lowest since mid-June. Deaths can take weeks to enter official statistics. They often lag behind other signs, such as cases and hospitalizations.
COVID has killed at least another 81,416 people in Florida and inflamed more than 7. 1 million.
Chris Persaud is the knowledge reporter for the Palm Beach Post. Email them to cpersaud@pbpost. com.