May 26 COVID data update

May 26, 2021

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 54 positive COVID-19 tests today, only 34 of which were from yesterday, with an official test positivity rate of 4.91%. The 7-day average positivity rate is 3.80%. 2 new deaths were reported.

The newly-reported cases included 11 from September, 4 from October, 2 from November, 1 from December, 1 from March, and 1 from April.

The new deaths:

71-year-old male who was hospitalized but with unknown emergency department visit; he tested positive on November 30
89-year-old male who was hospitalized but didn’t visit an emergency department; he tested positive on January 17

Although both test dates are months old, the deaths are listed as “Recent” in the case line data. One 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 283 deaths have been reported in the county, 83 of which were in long-term care.

The overall number of people (from all counties) hospitalized here for COVID-19 increased from 35 to 36; 32 was the lowest number reported since COVID-primary hospitalizations were first reported last July. This is down from a peak of 256 on January 13.

State COVID-19 hospitalizations decreased slightly from 2,090 to 2,059 (the lowest number reported since COVID-primary hospitalizations were first reported was 2,005). This is down from a peak of 7,763 on January 13.

The state reported 2,327 new positive tests (official positivity rate of 3.54%) and an increase of 66 deaths.

Changes in deaths were reported on 32 different dates, going back to April 2, 2020.

Changes in the number of deaths by month: April 2020 (+1), October (+2), November (+1), December (+1), January (+1), February (+1), March (+1), April 2021 (+3), May (+55)

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 24.4 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 10,123,898 people (8,091,013 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 127,773 people, about 56.3% of the county’s population 15 years of age and older (108,201, about 48% of the 15+ population, have received the complete series). We don’t have population breakdowns for 12 and older.

This chart shows the percentage of the populations of Alachua County and Florida by age that have been vaccinated. About 90.3% of seniors in Alachua County have received at least one dose, and 83.8% of seniors in Alachua County have received both doses. By comparison, about 84.9% of the state’s seniors have received at least one dose, with 72.6% receiving both doses.