New COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations slowly declining

TAMPA, Fla. - The amount of new COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations is slowly declining in Florida, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Florida Department of Health.

"Let’s keep our fingers crossed because it looks like we are on the backend of this doggone delta wave," said Dr. Thomas Unnasch, an infectious disease researcher at the University of South Florida who has been forecasting COVID-19 trends in our region since the beginning of the pandemic.

The seven-day rolling average of new COVID-19 infections in Florida peaked in mid-August at just under 21,800 and has been slowly declining ever since, according to Dr. Unnasch’s forecast models.

"Now we’re actually starting to see, in the last five or six days, evidence that we’re on the backside of the wave and we are starting to see a decline in Florida," Unnasch shared.

Between August 16, 2021 and September 2, 2021, Unnasch’s forecast model shows more than 3,300 fewer new cases.

Hospitals in Florida saw a 5% increase in bed capacity between Tuesday and Wednesday, according to data from the U.S Department of Health and Human Services.

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Unnasch says more unvaccinated people need to get the COVID-19 shot in order to keep new infection rates and hospitalizations down.

"Every person that gets infected is a breeding ground for a new variant, and increases the chances that we are going to have a variance that comes out that’s going to give us another horrible wave, if you get vaccinated, that will really help control that and the virus is going to have fewer chances to do anything and that’s how we are going to beat the virus," explained Unnasch.

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