June 11 update: 31 new positive tests, one new nursing home death
BY JENNIFER CABRERA
According to the state dashboard, Alachua County has a cumulative total of 443 people with COVID-19-positive test results, an increase of 31 from yesterday on 742 test results, for a positive test rate of 4.2%. Although the dashboard only shows 31 new positive tests, we reported earlier today on an outbreak in a local agricultural community with 76 positive tests. All of the 31 new positive results are from that group.
One new nursing home death has been reported, a 76-year-old man who was first reported as a positive case on April 9, for a total of nine deaths in the county. Eight of the deaths were reportedly from one long-term care facility, Parklands Care Center. The 9 deaths were first reported as positive cases on April 9 (4), April 18 (2), April 20, April 21, and April 23.
82 people (total) have been hospitalized, an increase of 2 from yesterday. The Alachua County Health Department typically reports a higher number that includes non-residents, which are not shown on the dashboard.
The website with current numbers of long-term care cases in Alachua County hasn’t been updated yet today; yesterday it showed 70 cases in these facilities, down 4 from the previous report. 58 of the cases are from Parklands Care Center. 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 69 cases in long-term care (same as the last report) and 2 cases in a correctional facility (I’ve been told that both of these are related to correctional facilities in other counties).
Available bed capacity in Alachua County is 14.26%.
The state has 69,069 cases (an increase of 1,698 from yesterday on 27,725 new test results for a positive rate of 6.1%) and 2,848 deaths (an increase of 47 from yesterday, 33 of which were from long-term care facilities).
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 5.58%. (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 30% of the state’s cases. Broward has 12%; Palm Beach 12%; Hillsborough has 5%; Orange has 4%, and Lee has 4%. Alachua County represents about 1.2% of the state’s population and 0.64% of the state’s cases.
27,868 test results have come back so far in Alachua County (up 742 from yesterday), and 27,418 tests have come back negative. Only 1.6% of the local tests have come back positive so far, and 31 tests came back positive since yesterday’s report, for a positive test rate of 4.2%. However, it is important to point out that zero tests came back positive in the community at large; all of them were from the isolated farmworker group.
Here is the official graph for Alachua County:
Also, here is the graph for the percentage of emergency department visits for cough, fever, and shortness of breath (normal baseline is around 2%):
According to the daily report, there are 349 cases in Gainesville, 20 in Newberry, 20 in Alachua, 8 in Hawthorne, 8 in High Springs, 4 in Waldo, 4 in Tioga, 4 in Micanopy, 3 in Archer, 1 in LaCrosse, and 1 in Santa Fe. 1 case is listed in the city of “Missing” in Alachua County. Location data is not available for all cases.
The 7-day moving average of new cases is at 7.7 through yesterday’s cases (the agricultural outbreak will skew the numbers for a while). Here is the 7-day average of new cases for the past 14 days.
Cases by zip code
I’m not going to type out the cases by zip code any more. If you’re interested, you can find them on the “Cases by Zip Code” tab of the dashboard.
Testing information
Drive-Thru COVID-19 Testing
The Florida Department of Health in Alachua County (DOH-Alachua) is offering evening drive-thru COVID-19 testing on Wednesdays, from 4-7 p.m. This is in addition to their regular testing schedule. 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.