May 31 update: 1 new case, 0.07% positive tests
BY JENNIFER CABRERA
According to the state dashboard, Alachua County has a cumulative total of 380 COVID-19-positive cases, an increase of 1 from yesterday on 1450 test results, for a positive test rate of 0.07%.
Seven deaths have been reported in the county. Six of the seven deaths were from one long-term care facility, Parklands Care Center. The 7 deaths were first reported as positive cases on April 9 (2), April 18 (2), April 20, April 21, and April 23.
74 people (total) have been hospitalized–no change in the past 10 days. The Alachua County Health Department has been reporting 78 hospitalizations; apparently this includes 4 non-residents, which are not shown on the dashboard.
The website with current numbers of long-term care cases in Alachua County shows 77 cases in these facilities, up 4 from yesterday (the increase is in the “Transferred” column for the nursing home at Oak Hammock). 58 of those 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 68 cases in long-term care (down 1 from the last report) and 1 case in a correctional facility (this case has been identified as a worker at a Marion County facility who tested positive in March).
Available bed capacity in Alachua County is 22.53%.
The state has 56,163 cases (an increase of 739 from yesterday on 26,379 new test results for a positive rate of 2.8%) and 2,451 deaths (an increase of 4 from yesterday, 2 of which were from long-term care facilities). It’s normal to have low numbers of deaths reported on weekends; there is typically a spike on Tuesdays to catch up.
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 3.15%. (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 33% of the state’s cases. Broward has 13%; Palm Beach 11%; Orange has 4%, and Hillsborough has 4%. Alachua County represents about 1.2% of the state’s population and 0.68% of the state’s cases.
19,893 test results have come back so far in Alachua County (up 1,450 from yesterday), and 19,505 tests have come back negative. Only 1.9% of the local tests have come back positive so far (a drop of 0.2% since yesterday), and 1 of yesterday’s tests came back positive, for a positive test rate of 0.07%.
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 300 cases in Gainesville, 16 in Newberry, 15 in Alachua, 8 in Hawthorne, 7 in High Springs, 4 in Waldo, 4 in Tioga, 3 in Micanopy, 1 in LaCrosse, 1 in Santa Fe, and 1 in Archer. 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 3.1 through yesterday’s cases. Here is the 7-day average of new cases for the past 14 days. Note that when the average is around 3-4 new cases per day, as it is now (the 7-day moving average has not been over 4 since May 13 and has not been over 5 since April 26), it’s unlikely that we’ll see sustained declines from that number, particularly when we’re doing a lot of testing, as we have been.
Also, we are learning more about the prevalence of false positives in COVID-19 PCR testing; this paper (not yet peer-reviewed) calculates a conservative false positive rate (FPR) of 0.8% and states “The reliability of positive results dropped to near zero in these cases when test positivity approached the estimated FPR.” Our test positivity (see bar chart above) has hovered in the 1% range.
Cases by zip code
32044: 0 cases
32601: 65 cases
32603: <5 cases
32605: 31 cases
32606: 19 cases
32607: 43 cases
32608: 61 cases
32609: 32 cases
32610: <5 cases
32611: 0 cases
32615: 15 cases
32618: <5 cases
32622: 0 cases
32631: 0 cases
32640: 8 cases
32641: 26 cases
32643: 7 cases
32653: 18 cases
32666: 0 cases
32667: <5 cases
32669: 20 cases
32694: <5 cases
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.