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July 19 update: 88 new positive tests, 1 new hospitalization, 1 new death

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

According to the stateĀ dashboard, Alachua County has a cumulative total of 2,619 people with COVID-19-positive test results, an increase of 88 from yesterday on 1,231 test results for a raw test positivity rate of 7.15%. The median age of positive tests (overall) in Alachua County is 30. One new hospitalization was reported, and one new death was reported.

The new death is an 81-year-old male who tested positive on July 7. He is shown as having visited an emergency room, but the case data says it is unknown whether he was hospitalized.

The new hospitalization is a 36-year-old male who is hospitalized but didn’t visit an emergency room. He first tested positive on July 8 and told contact tracers he was first symptomatic on July 7.

Perhaps the best news today is that data from county emergency rooms (which is delayed – it currently only goes to July 12) shows that visits peaked around July 5:

FDOH-Alachua County Administrator Paul Myers told the county commission this week that test results are taking up to 14 days to come back, so some of the 88 tests that came back today could date back to the peak on the graphs above.

Of the 1,530 people who tested positive between June 11 (the beginning of the ā€œspikeā€ in cases) and July 9 (cutting it off at July 9 allows a conservative 10 days from the positive test to hospitalization), only 25 (1.6%) have been hospitalized, and one has died (0.065%).

Around June 11, the number of new daily cases jumped about 10-fold, but then it stayed there. So we went from 4-8 per day to 50-80 per day. Scroll to the graphs at the bottom to see that the number of cases is now essentially flat; there has been no further jump.

This is a very different disease in young people than in the very old. The fear is that the increase in young cases will spread to older people, but so far thatā€™s not happening (and the spike is now 38 days old).

Of the 88 people whose tests came back yesterday, 7 were 65 or older.

A total of thirteen deaths have been reported in the county. Ten of the deaths were reportedly from one long-term care facility, Parklands Care Center. The 13 deaths were first reported as positive cases on April 9 (4), April 18 (2), April 20, April 21, April 23, May 10, May 12, May 24, and July 7.

112 people (total) have been hospitalized, an increase of one from yesterday. Nine people have been added to the hospitalization total in the past week. Note that hospitalizations are not necessarily people who seek care for COVID; everyone who is admitted to the hospital for any reason is now tested, and a hospital administrator said last Tuesday during the governorā€™s press conference that 30%-40% of ā€œCOVID admissionsā€ are people who are admitted for other reasons and test positive after admission. He also said they are almost always asymptomatic.

TheĀ websiteĀ with current numbers of long-term care cases in Alachua County shows 86 cases, an increase of 3 from the previous report. Only 10 of the current cases are from Parklands Care Center (all staff members are now listed as negative), and Tacachale is now at 51. 19th Street Group Home has made its first appearance on the list. The chart says, ā€œThe data is not cumulative but reflects the information available for current residents and staff with cases as of yesterdayā€™s date.ā€ (The top line shows totals for the state.)

TheĀ county reportĀ shows a cumulative total of 81 cases in long-term care (no change from yesterday) and 20 cases in a correctional facility (no change).

Available hospital bed capacityĀ in Alachua County is 20.22%, and ICU capacity is 10.71%.

North Florida Regional has 4 ICU beds available (8% of capacity), and Shands has 29 available (11% of capacity). ICU beds are used for all intensive-care patients, not just COVID patients.

The state has 350,047 cases (an increase of 12,478 from yesterday on 70,769 new test results for a raw positive rate of 17.6%) and 4,982 deaths (an increase of 87 from yesterday, 27 of which were from long-term care facilities). Deaths are delayed and may go all the way back to March. At the same time, the number of deaths that actually occurred yesterday could increase at any time in the next few months.

Here are the dates of the new deaths:

7/18 – 9
7/17 ā€“ 11
7/16 ā€“ 13
7/15 ā€“ 6
7/14 ā€“ 7
7/13 ā€“ 7
7/12 ā€“ 5
7/11 ā€“ 3
7/9 ā€“ 5
7/8 ā€“ 5
7/7 – 2
7/6 ā€“ 4
7/5 – 2
7/4 – 3
7/3 – 1
7/1 ā€“ 1
6/30 – 1
6/24 ā€“ 1
6/18 – 1
6/8 – 1
4/1 – 1 removed

Here is a graph of fatalities by date for yesterday (left) and today (right). The drop in recent days is not real because, as you can see from the list above, significant numbers of reports arrive for 8-10 days.

This graph smooths out the data by taking a 7-day average; it cuts off at July 9 to leave off recent, incomplete days:

The state also publishes a chart of the percentage of new tests that are positive by day (this chart is for the whole state), and yesterdayā€™s positive rate was 11.85%. (The state charts only count people who test positive for the first time, and they may assign results to a different date than the day the test result came back. Our calculations are just positives/total tests for new results.)

Dade County has 24% of the stateā€™s cases. Broward has 11%; Palm Beach 7%; Hillsborough has 7%; and Orange has 7%. Alachua County represents about 1.2% of the stateā€™s population and 0.75% of the stateā€™s cases (this is dropping).

57,114 test results have come back so far in Alachua County (up 1,231 from yesterday). 4.6% of the local tests have come back positive so far, and 88 tests came back positive since yesterdayā€™s report, for a raw positive test rate of 7.15%. This chart is for Alachua County, so the official rate was 4.4%.

The University of Florida is reporting 50 positive tests out of 19,877 employees tested since May 6. This is a positive rate of 0.25%. 2 of the last 493 tests were positive, for a positive rate of 0.4%.

UF is also now reporting its testing of students, and it shows 162 positives out of 656 tests for a positive rate of 25%. 11 out of the last 72 results have come back positive, for a positive rate of 15%.

According to theĀ daily report,Ā there are 2,126 cases in Gainesville, 158 in Alachua, 106 in Newberry, 48 in Archer, 47 in High Springs, 33 in Hawthorne, 20 in Micanopy, 10 in Waldo, 8 in Santa Fe, 6 in Tioga, 5 in LaCrosse, and 2 in Earleton. 7 cases are listed in the city of ā€œMissingā€ in Alachua County, and 1 case is erroneously listed in ā€œWesley Chapelā€ in Alachua County. Location data is not available for all cases.

The 7-day moving average of new cases is at 76.3 through yesterdayā€™s cases. Here is the 7-day average of new cases for the past 14 days; the trendline is flat, for the first time since mid-June.

Testing information

Drive-Thru COVID-19 Testing
The Florida Department of Health in Alachua County (DOH-Alachua) is offering drive-thru COVID-19 testing on Wednesdays from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. and Fridays from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. DOH-Alachua is offering COVID-19 testing to Alachua County residents, regardless of symptoms. Residents who want a COVID-19 test are asked to call 352-334-8810 for an appointment. A referral from a doctor is not required. If your insurance covers this, it will be billed (no copay is required). If not, it is free.

COVID-19 Testing Results Phone Line
The Department of Health in Alachua County has set up a dedicated line for residents to call for COVID-19 test results. The phone number is 352-334-8828, and it is staffed Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

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