[ad_1]
Across Florida in June, the number of COVID-19 cases remained stable, vaccination and testing rates fell, and the more contagious Delta strain of the virus spread throughout the Sunshine State and elsewhere. US experts are now warning that the emergence of the Delta variant and other strains could slow the “return to normal” that many Americans were hoping to see in 2021.
On June 4, the Florida Department of Health, or FDOH, stopped publishing daily reports in favor of a weekly format with much less information. Jay Wolfson, professor of public health at the University of South Florida, said that doesn’t mean the agency is no longer tracking the virus.
“I am reasonably confident that the State Department of Health is continuing its internal monitoring and surveillance cases, but we are testing less,” Wolfson said. “It’s hard to know what’s going on there.”
As of July 1, Brevard had recorded 295,935 cases of COVID-19, an increase of 1,343 new cases since June 4. At the height of the pandemic, the county saw an increase of 150 or more each day.
Over the past week, Brevard recorded a case positivity rate of 7.7%, higher than the 5.2% in the rest of Florida. Case positivity has increased since the last week of May, when the positivity of new cases stood at 3.9%.
The World Health Organization recommends that an area’s positivity rate remain below 5%. Higher positivity rates could indicate that an area is not testing enough residents, potentially missing COVID-19 cases.
According to the CDC data tracker, 52.2% of Brevard’s total population has at least one dose of the new coronavirus vaccine, and 51.4% are fully vaccinated. Of the population 65 and over of Brevard, 87% have received at least one dose and 76.8% are fully vaccinated.
Experts have suggested that up to 75% vaccination is needed for herd immunity to develop and protect the population from the spread of disease. As vaccination rates slow down, it seems less likely that the United States will quickly achieve herd immunity.
Many people focused too much on the death rate, Wolfson said, and ignored other negative results from the virus. The “long haul” COVID-19 that experiences significant long-term effects show that the virus presents risks beyond death.
“It won’t necessarily kill young people, but it will, in our opinion, create the possibility of a big chronic disease outbreak in the population that will require lifelong attention,” Wolfson said.
The spread of more deadly and contagious and possibly deadliest strains of COVID-19 such as the Delta variant, first recorded in India, has raised concerns that the country may not be able to continue easing COVID restrictions -19 as quickly as expected.
After:Week after week: New COVID-19 cases drop in Florida, but increase in Leon County
In the United States, an estimated 25% of new infections are due to the Delta variant.
Los Angeles County public health officials have even advised those vaccinated to wear masks indoors, as the county has witnessed a spike in COVID-19 cases.
According to FDOH data as of Thursday, five cases of the Delta variant had been confirmed in Brevard County. Miami-Dade leads the state with 33 infections linked to the Delta variant.
As of Thursday, four people had died from the Delta variant in Florida.
Wolfson said that pockets of the population with low vaccination rates allow the development of new variants.
“This unvaccinated population can help create a new strain of the virus, which in the worst case would be immune to the vaccines we are currently using, which appear to work against the effects of viruses,” Wolfson said.
Although cases appear stable with a slight upward trend, the volume of testing has fallen, Wolfson noted. It could mean Florida is underestimating its COVID-19 cases, but it’s hard to say.
Testing has particularly declined among 18-30 year olds, Wolfson said. This same age group has lower vaccination rates than older populations.
Other metrics that could indicate increased community spread instead of good case data are deaths and hospitalizations. Deaths have not jumped, but less data is publicly available from hospitals on COVID-19 vaccination rates.
“Given the low vaccination rate among the population aged 18 to 35 and the natural likelihood of the population serving as a reservoir for continuous variations, this means that we just need to be careful and not assume that we are better off.” healthier than we were before. July, ”Wolfson said. “(We can slow the spread by) being responsible, respectful, and using common sense, and remembering the Smokey the Bear Line Modification: In this case, only you can prevent COVID. “
Bailey Gallion is the educational journalist for FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Gallion at [email protected] or 321-242-3786.
|
Sources 2/ https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/2021/07/04/covid-19-june-vaccination-and-testing-slows-variants-rise-florida/7839188002/ The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article |
[ad_2]