April 17 COVID data update
BY JENNIFER CABRERA
[Editor’s note: This information is provided to put the COVID-19 data in context and show trends. We are presenting the data as reported by Florida Department of Health with the understanding that the data is messy, and each day’s update changes multiple previous days. We believe that individuals should have access to as much information as possible so they can make decisions about their risks; you can find our opinions about government actions in the COVID-19 category on the site.]
According to the state dashboard, Alachua County reported an increase of 38 positive COVID-19 tests today, with an official test positivity rate of 2.01%. The 7-day average positivity rate is 2.89%. One new death was reported.
The new death was a 58-year-old male who visited an emergency room and was hospitalized; he tested positive on November 16. He was not in long-term care.
Of the people whose positive tests came back yesterday, one was 65 or older (this is the important number to track because those are the people who are more likely to have bad outcomes).
A total of 264 deaths have been reported in the county, 78 of which were in long-term care.
The overall number of people (from all counties) hospitalized here for COVID-19 stayed at 38. This is down from a peak of 256 on January 13.
State COVID-19 hospitalizations decreased slightly from 3,264 to 3,253 today. This is down from a peak of 7,763 on January 13.
The state reported 6,323 new positive tests (official positivity rate of 6.88%) and an increase of 74 deaths, 14 of which were from a long-term care facility.
Changes in deaths were reported on 41 different dates, going back to July 9.
Changes in the number of deaths by month: July (+3), September (+1), December (+4), January (+3), February (+1), March (+23-2), April (+42-1)
The first-wave peak was on August 4 (240), and the 7-day moving average peak was August 5 (227). The second-wave peak so far is January 22 (212); the 7-day moving average peak is January 18 (197).
This chart uses different colors to show how the reported deaths stack up by date:
Here is the full chart for context:
The state also publishes a chart of the percentage of new tests that are positive by day (this chart is for the whole state), showing the trend over the past 14 days.
This chart shows the trend in positivity rate for Alachua County.
This chart shows the number of negative tests reported in Alachua County by day, which gives an idea of the volume of testing:
The 7-day moving average of new cases is at 39.4 through yesterday, down from a peak of 188.1 on January 11. Here is the 7-day average of new cases for the past 14 days:
The state has vaccinated a total of 7,934,016 people (5,012,332 have received the complete series of 2 doses or a single-dose vaccine). Vaccines were administered first to healthcare and front-line workers, with vaccines being rolled out to everyone 18 and older now (16 and older for the Pfizer vaccine).
Alachua County has vaccinated a total of 98,839 people, over 36.5% of the population (68,006, over 25% of the population, have received the complete series).
This chart shows the percentage of the populations of Alachua County and Florida by age that have been vaccinated. About 83.3% of seniors in Alachua County have received at least one dose, and 74.3% of seniors in Alachua County have received both doses. By comparison, about 79.8% of the state’s seniors have received at least one dose, with 63.9% receiving both doses.
