July 26 update: 94 new positive tests, 1 new hospitalization, 2 new deaths

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

The 14-day trendline in cases continues to decrease.

According to the state dashboard, Alachua County has a cumulative total of 3,144 people with COVID-19-positive test results, an increase of 94 from yesterday on 983 test results with an official test positivity rate of 6.1%. The median age of positive tests (overall) in Alachua County is 30. One new hospitalization was reported, and two new deaths were reported.

The new hospitalization is a 45-year-old female who first tested positive on July 22.

The new deaths are an 86-year-old male who first tested positive on June 29 and a 66-year-old female who first tested positive on June 23 and first reported symptoms on June 18.

Perhaps the best news is that visits to county emergency rooms with COVID-like illness continue to decrease from the July 5 peak:

Of the 2,020 people who tested positive between June 11 (the beginning of the “spike” in cases) and July 16 (cutting it off at July 16 allows a conservative 10 days from the positive test to hospitalization), only 40 (2%) have been hospitalized, and 9 have died (0.4%).

Around June 11, the number of new daily cases jumped about 10-fold, but then it stayed there. So we went from a 7-day average of 4-8 per day to 70-75 per day.

Of the 94 people whose tests came back yesterday, 7 were 65 or older (the chart shows 6 because the state data doesn’t always match up, but the case line list shows 7):

A total of 20 deaths have been reported in the county. Ten of the deaths were reportedly from one long-term care facility, Parklands Care Center. The 20 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, June 23, June 29, July 1, July 6, July 7, July 8, July 9, and July 13.

128 people (total) have been hospitalized, an increase of one from yesterday. Sixteen people have been added to the hospitalization total in the past week.

The website with current numbers of institutional care cases in Alachua County shows 115 cases, an increase of 10 from the previous report. The chart says, “The data is not cumulative but reflects the information available for current residents and staff with cases as of yesterday’s date.” (The top line shows totals for the state.)

The county report shows a cumulative total of 92 cases in long-term care (an increase of 2 from yesterday) and 25 cases in a correctional facility (an increase of 1 from yesterday).

Available hospital bed capacity in Alachua County is 16.89%, and ICU capacity is 13.31%.

North Florida Regional has 3 ICU beds available (6% of capacity), and Shands has 38 available (15% of capacity). ICU beds are used for all intensive-care patients, not just COVID patients.

The state has 423,855 cases (an increase of 9,344 from yesterday on 50,204 new test results) and 5,854 deaths (an increase of 77 from yesterday, 22 of which were from long-term care facilities).

Here are the dates of the new deaths:

7/25 – 10
7/24 – 4
7/23 – 5
7/22 – 9
7/21 – 7
7/20 – 13
7/19 – 11
7/18 – 4
7/17 – 3
7/16 – 2
7/15 – 3
7/13 – 1
7/12 – 1
7/11 – 1
7/10 – 1
7/4 – 1
6/30 – 1
6/14 – 1
5/29 – removed 1

Here is a graph of Florida fatalities by date through 7 days ago (although small numbers of deaths are being added to dates older than 7 days ago, recent dates will continue to have large increases for at least a week, so it’s cut off to remove large drops that will not hold up):

This graph smooths out the data by taking a 7-day moving average; it cuts off at July 18:

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 yesterday’s positive rate was 11.06%. (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.)

62,766 test results have come back so far in Alachua County (up 983 from yesterday). 5% of the local tests have come back positive so far, and 94 tests came back positive since yesterday’s report; the official positivity rate was 6.1%.

The University of Florida is reporting 54 positive tests out of 20,323 employees tested since May 6. This is a positive rate of 0.27%. 4 of the last 446 tests were positive, for a positive rate of 0.9%.

UF is also now reporting its testing of students, and it shows 163 positives out of 686 tests for a positive rate of 24%. 1 out of the last 30 results have come back positive, for a positive rate of 3.3%. UF has added information to this page, stating that these tests are the ones run at the UF Student Health Care Center on students who seek care for COVID-like symptoms.

The 7-day moving average of new cases is at 76.3 through yesterday’s cases. Here is the 7-day average of new cases for the past 14 days; the trendline continues to trend downward.

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.