COVID-19 numbers in Florida, Bay Area trending down
TAMPA, Fla. - The state of Florida's COVID-19 numbers are trending downward, from new cases to hospitalizations. Florida's percent positivity, the rate of new positive tests, is half of what it was just six weeks ago.
It's encouraging news when just weeks ago, Florida was breaking national records and not for good reasons. But health experts urge everyone to not let their guard down.
Governor Ron DeSantis, encouraged by Florida's COVID-19 data, announced Monday that the Miami Dolphins can soon allow a limited number of fans inside Hard Rock Stadium to watch.
"I think it is something that will give people a little bit of hope," DeSantis said.
That hope, of course, is driven by the numbers. He said that COVID-positive hospitalizations are down 50% in Florida. Sunday's number of 128 COVID-19 admissions was the lowest since late June.
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"The number of people visiting the emergency department for COVID-like illness has declined about 75% since the peak of July 7th statewide," DeSantis said.
Monday's report of 2,258 new cases was the lowest since June 14. As far as percent positivity in Florida's testing, it's ranged from 4.95% to nearly 12% over the last two weeks. It's a steady decline from early July when it jumped as high as 18.46%.
FOX 13 analyzed the seven-day average of percent positive rates here in the Bay Area. For example, Hillsborough County's current seven-day average is 21% lower than the average was just a week ago. It's 53% lower than a month ago.
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The trend continues in nearly all of Tampa Bay. Highlands County's seven-day average of percent positivity is down 63% from a month ago. Manatee and Pinellas counties are down 55%.
"I don't think anything has changed with the virus," said Dr. Marissa Levine, professor of public health and family medicine at the University of South Florida. "I think we have just collectively, as a community, done what we've needed to do and we are going to need to continue to do that."
Dr. Levine said the numbers are a sign that preventative measures like masks and social distancing are working.
"The critical thing that I worry about is that, as the trends are going in a good direction, if people interpret that as going back to the old normal, then we are very likely to see things go in the wrong direction, Dr. Levine said.
She said it's up to us and our behaviors to continue trending down.
"We may need to do this for another year or two, depending on when we get treatments and vaccines, nobody really knows when that will happen," Dr. Levine said. "We've done a good job. Now we need to keep it up."