March 8 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 13 positive COVID-19 tests today with an official test positivity rate of 2.13% on a day with a low number of test results. The 7-day average positivity rate is 1.87%. Six new deaths were reported.

The new deaths:

• 95-year-old female with unknown emergency room visit and hospitalization; she tested positive on January 5
• 57-year-old male who did not visit an emergency room and was not hospitalized; he tested positive on January 21
• 79-year-old male who visited an emergency room and was hospitalized; he tested positive on January 24
• 50-year-old male who visited an emergency room and was hospitalized; he tested positive on January 25
• 75-year-old female with unknown emergency room visit and hospitalization; she tested positive on January 31
• 72-year-old male who didn’t visit an emergency room and wasn’t hospitalized; he tested positive on February 6

None were in long-term care.

Of the people whose positive tests came back yesterday, 1 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 242 deaths have been reported in the county, 71 of which were in long-term care.

The overall number of people (from all counties) hospitalized here for COVID-19 decreased from 49 to 47. This is down from a peak of 256 on January 13.

State COVID-19 hospitalizations increased from 3,299 to 3,310 today. This is down from a peak of 7,763 on January 13.

The state reported 3,312 new positive tests (official positivity rate of 5.95% on a day with a low number of test results) and an increase of 81 deaths, 19 of which were from long-term care facilities.

Changes in deaths were reported on 27 different dates, going back to July 7.

Changes in the number of deaths by month: July (-1), February (+66), March (+16)

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 (210); the 7-day moving average peak is January 18 (193).

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, 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 3,590,686 people (1,959,490 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 people 65 and older now.

Alachua County has vaccinated a total of 49,686 people, almost 18.5% of the population (38,014, over 14% 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. 68% of seniors in Alachua County have received at least one dose, and 51% of seniors in Alachua County have received both doses. By comparison, about 58% of the state’s seniors have received at least one dose, with 32% receiving both doses.