February 26 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 21 positive COVID-19 tests today (including 1 added to August) with an official test positivity rate of 1.14%. The 7-day average positivity rate is down to 1.95%. One new death was reported, and one was removed.

The new death is an 87-year-old female who didn’t visit an emergency room and wasn’t hospitalized; she tested positive on December 24. The death that was removed was an 86-year-old female who tested positive on December 24.

Of the people whose positive tests came back yesterday, 2 were 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 228 deaths have been reported in the county, 66 of which were in long-term care.

The overall number of people (from all counties) hospitalized here for COVID-19 decreased from 68 to 65. This is down from a peak of 256 on January 13.

State COVID-19 hospitalizations decreased from 3,953 to 3,864 today. This is down from a peak of 7,763 on January 13.

The state reported 5,922 new positive tests (official positivity rate of 5.18%) and an increase of 146 deaths, 35 of which were from long-term care facilities.

Changes in deaths were reported on 28 different dates, going back to January 26.

Changes in the number of deaths by month: January (+5), February (+141)

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 (207); the 7-day moving average peak is January 18 (189). These are expected to keep changing.

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 33.3 through yesterday’s case, down from a peak of 188.3 on January 11. Here is the 7-day average of new cases for the past 14 days:

The state has vaccinated a total of 2,895,170 people (1,588,027 have received the complete series). Vaccines were administered first to healthcare and front-line workers, with vaccines being rolled out to people 65 and older now.

Alachua County has vaccinated a total of 46,611 people, over 17% of the population (33,177, over 12% 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. 64% of seniors in Alachua County have received at least one dose, and 43% of seniors in Alachua County have received both doses. By comparison, 49% of the state’s seniors have received at least one dose, with 26% receiving both doses.