May 17 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 19 positive COVID-19 tests today (one of which was from last July), with an official test positivity rate of 4.11% on a day with a very low number of test results. The 7-day average positivity rate is 4.00%. 2 new deaths were reported.

The new deaths:

• 69-year-old male who visited an emergency department and was hospitalized; he tested positive on April 17
• 80-year-old female who visited an emergency department but has “unknown” in the hospitalization field; she tested positive on April 18

Neither was in long-term care.

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 281 deaths have been reported in the county, 82 of which were in long-term care.

The overall number of people (from all counties) hospitalized here for COVID-19 stayed at 44. This is down from a peak of 256 on January 13.

State COVID-19 hospitalizations increased slightly from 2,410 to 2,443. This is down from a peak of 7,763 on January 13.

The state reported 1,976 new positive tests (official positivity rate of 4.42%) and an increase of 58 deaths, 12 of which were from a long-term care facility.

Changes in deaths were reported on 23 different dates, going back to September 13.

Changes in the number of deaths by month: September (+1), February (+1), April (+15), May (+41)

The first-wave peak was on August 4 (242), and the 7-day moving average peak was August 5 (228). The second-wave peak so far is January 22 (215); the 7-day moving average peak is January 18 (200).

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 29.1 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 9,608,397 people (7,596,222 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 everyone 18 and older now (12 and older for the Pfizer vaccine).

Alachua County has vaccinated a total of 124,376 people, about 55.8% of the county’s population 16 years of age and older (97,908, about 43.9% of the 16+ population, have received the complete series). No data is available yet on vaccinations for 12-15-year-olds.

This chart shows the percentage of the populations of Alachua County and Florida by age that have been vaccinated. About 93.7% of seniors in Alachua County have received at least one dose, and 86.5% of seniors in Alachua County have received both doses. By comparison, about 84% of the state’s seniors have received at least one dose, with 71.2% receiving both doses.