September 1 update: 55* new positive tests, no new deaths

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

A data dump from Quest inflated positive tests throughout the state, adding an asterisk to all statistics for today.

According to the state dashboard, Alachua County has a cumulative total of 5,251 people with COVID-19-positive test results, an increase of 55 from yesterday, with an official test positivity rate of 5.01%. The median age of positive tests (overall) in Alachua County is 33. No new deaths were reported.

However, 11 of the tests were from a large data dump from Quest Diagnostics, which caused the state to announce this morning that they were severing ties with Quest.

Of the 55 people whose positive tests came back yesterday, 6 were 65 or older.

Alachua County Public Schools now has a dashboard for positive tests in the school system. It currently shows 4 staff and 1 student positive tests in elementary schools, no positive tests in middle schools or high schools, and 1 positive test in district office staff. The dashboard shows a total of 2 students and 8 staff with positive tests, but the dashboard doesn’t show the location of the extra student and 3 extra staff.

The weekly report on emergency room visits for COVID-like illness shows that Alachua County continues downward (less than 50 people went to the ER for COVID-like illness between 8/17 and 8/23), definitively meeting the criteria for 14-day declining ED visits:

A total of 33 deaths have been reported in the county, 15 of which were in long-term care. Nine of the deaths were reportedly from one long-term care facility, Parklands Care Center, and 6 were from other long-term care facilities. The 33 deaths were first reported as positive cases on April 9 (4), April 18 (2), April 20, April 21, April 23, May 10, May 12, May 24, June 23, June 29, July 1, July 6 (2), July 7, July 8, July 9 (2), July 13, July 16, July 21, July 22, July 24 (2), July 27, August 2, August 4, August 8, August 10, and August 21.

310 people (total) have been hospitalized, an increase of 1 from yesterday; the total hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19 (which includes non-residents) decreased from 86 to 78.

The website with current numbers of institutional care cases in Alachua County has not been updated today but shows 153 cases, a decrease of 19 from the previous report. 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 269 cases in long-term care (an increase of 6 from yesterday) and 102 cases in a correctional facility (an increase of 8 from yesterday).

Available hospital bed capacity in Alachua County is 15.08%, and ICU capacity is 9.42%.

North Florida Regional has 6 ICU beds available (12.5% of capacity), and Shands has 23 available (8.9% of capacity). ICU beds are used for all intensive-care patients, not just COVID patients.

The overall number of people (from all counties) hospitalized here for COVID-19 decreased from 86 to 78.

State COVID-19 hospitalizations are dropping dramatically, from 4,545 a week ago to 3,623 today.

The state has 631,040 cases (an increase of 7,643 from yesterday with an asterisk from the data dump; without the old tests, there would have been 3,773 new positive tests) and 11,374 deaths (an increase of 187 from yesterday, 57 of which were from long-term care facilities).

Changes in the number of deaths were reported on 48 different dates, going back to July 12. The peak is July 23 (202), with the 7-day average peak at July 25 (191). Here are the actual dates of death:

9/1 – 1
8/31 – 4
8/30 – 15
8/29 – 15
8/28 – 8
8/27 – 7
8/26 – 7
8/25 – 6
8/24 – 2
8/23 – 1
8/22 – 1
8/20 – 3
8/19 – 6
8/18 – 1
8/17 – 3
8/16 – 2
8/15 – 6
8/14 – 4
8/13 – 3
8/11 – 5
8/10 – 4
8/9 – 5
8/8 – 6
8/7 – 4
8/6 – 5
8/5 – 2
8/4 – 2
8/3 – 5
8/2 – 6
8/1 – 5
7/31 – 3
7/30 – 4
7/29 – 1
7/28 – 3
7/27 – 2
7/26 – 3
7/25 – 1
7/24 – 3
7/23 – 8
7/22 – 3
7/21 – 4
7/20 – removed 1
7/19 – 1
7/18 – 1
7/17 – 3
7/15 – 1
7/14 – 1
7/12 – 2

These are not totals by day; they’re increments added today.

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 6.81%–again, with an asterisk. (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.)

In Alachua County, the official positivity rate yesterday was 5.01%–again, with an asterisk.

This chart shows the number of negative tests reported in Alachua County by day:

The University of Florida reported zero positives out of 4 new tests on faculty and staff.

According to the daily report, there are 4,174 cases in Gainesville, 334 in Alachua, 237 in Newberry, 135 in High Springs, 91 in Archer, 88 in Hawthorne, 43 in Micanopy, 20 in Waldo, 14 in Santa Fe, 12 in Tioga, 10 in LaCrosse, 3 in Evinston, 2 in Earleton, 2 in Jonesville, 2 in “University of Fl.”, and 1 in Island Grove. 16 cases are listed in the city of “Missing” in Alachua County, 1 case is erroneously listed in “Wesley Chapel” in Alachua County, and 1 case is in “Unk” in Alachua County. Location data is not available for all cases.

The 7-day moving average of new cases is at 33 through yesterday’s cases. Here is the 7-day average of new cases for the past 14 days.

Testing information

Drive-Thru COVID-19 Testing
The Florida Department of Health in Alachua County (DOH-Alachua) is offering drive-thru COVID-19 testing on Wednesdays from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. and Fridays from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. 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.