Sarasota County reported 1,256 additional COVID-19 cases this week
For the fifth week in a row, Sarasota and Manatee counties reported a drop in COVID-19 cases.
Sarasota County counted 1,256 new cases and 27 deaths compared to 2,319 cases and 47 deaths a week before.
In Manatee County, 807 cases were reported last week, a marked decrease from the 2,235 cases last week. However, 33 deaths were reported this week compared to just one the week before.
It yields a total of 89,232 cases and 1,455 deaths in Sarasota County since the pandemic began, with 94,765 cases and 1,305 deaths in Manatee.
>> See how your community has coped with the recent cases of coronavirus
Hospital admissions fall at Sarasota Memorial
While the Omicron wave continues to slow, the Sarasota Memorial is among state-wide hospitals reporting a decline in COVID-19 patients.
As of Monday morning, there were 96 COVID patients at both Sarasota Memorial Hospitals, down from last Monday’s COVID count of 145. Fourteen of these patients are in the intensive care unit.
A total of 63% of patients admitted in the last week were unvaccinated from Wednesday.
Last week, for the first time since December, the hospital’s seven-day COVID test dropped the positivity rate to single digits and is now 6.4 percent compared to 9.6 percent last week.
>> The news you need about Sarasota: Become a subscriber today
“We had hoped this drop would lead to a faster and more dramatic drop in our COVID count, but we had 96 new admissions of positive patients since last Monday,” hospital spokeswoman Kim Savage said.
“While the worst increase appears to be behind us, the number of admissions and new admissions indicates that Omicron is still very much a threat to our society,” she said. “We continue to encourage everyone to stay safe and be vaccinated and boosted.”
Earlier:The weekly COVID case rate drops by 32.5% in Sarasota County, 35.6% in Manatee
More:COVID-19 cases continue to fall in the Sarasota-Manatee area and Florida
Hospital admissions across the state are falling, according to a U.S. TODAY analysis of federal hospital data. There were a total of 6,143 admissions last week across the country from Sunday, down from 7,979 the week before. The nation saw a total drop to 83,365 likely COVID-19 patients admitted from 105,597 last week.
The trend is spreading throughout the country. Hospitals in zero states reported more COVID-19 patients than a week earlier, even though one state had more intensive covid-19 patients, according to a U.S. TODAY analysis of data from the U.S. Health and Human Services.
Florida cases are falling
Florida reported a significant drop in COVID-19 cases overall, with 42,373 new cases as of Sunday. That’s a 65.4% drop from the 122,428 cases last week.
With 6.45% of the country’s population, Florida had 5.87% of the country’s cases in the last week. COVID-19 cases fell 42% nationwide compared to last week, with 722,053 reported cases. Only three states reported an increase in cases last week.
Florida was ranked 32nd among the states where coronavirus spread most rapidly on a per-person basis, according to a U.S. TODAY Network analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University. Last week, it was number eight, despite reporting a 7% drop from the week before.
Sarasota:Art groups handle the financial and emotional consequences of COVID on artists, staff and patrons
67 counties reported declines last week, with Miami-Dade leading the pack with 4,691 cases, down from 24,188 a week earlier. Broward County followed with 2,664 cases, down from 10,276 last week; then Orange County with 3,073 cases, down from 7,644.
Yet with these cases, Miami-Dade and Orange counties added the most and third most cases in total in the state, respectively. Hillsborough County finished second with 4,325 cases.
>> Trace cases of coronavirus across the United States
The worst weekly outbreaks in the state per. person was in Jackson County with 459 cases per. 100,000 inhabitants per. week; Wakulla County with 305; and Lafayette County with 297. Centers for Disease Control says high levels of community transmission begin at 100 cases per year. 100,000 a week.
In Florida, 1,330 people were reported dead of COVID-19 in the week ending Sunday. In the week before that, 1,293 people were reported dead.
A total of 5,818,706 people in Florida have been tested positive for coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 68,902 people have died from the disease, data from Johns Hopkins University shows. In the United States, 78,479,134 people tested positive and 935,335 people died.
Florida also ranked number 19 among states in the proportion of people who received at least one shot, with 77.8% of the population at least partially vaccinated. The national rate is 76.1%, shows a US TODAY analysis of CDC data. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which are the most widely used in the United States, require two doses to be administered every few weeks.
In the week ending Saturday, Florida reported having administered an additional 254,023 vaccine doses, including 42,465 first doses. In the previous week, the state administered 273,554 vaccine doses, including 76,844 first doses. In total, Florida reported that it has administered 35,955,869 total doses.
Mike Stucka of the United States TODAY Network contributed to this report.