BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
Telegraph Editor
A resurgence in the spread of COVID-19 has marred the holidays for many Americans.
CNN reported a study from John Hopkins University that said the country is averaging nearly 200,000 new cases each day, which was an increase of 47% over the previous week and the highest daily average since January.
Some expect to see that rise to a half-million new cases each day.
Hospitalizations are on the rise, with more than 70,000 Americans receiving care at the beginning of the week. An increasing number of those are pediatric cases.
According to the CDC, nearly 60% of those testing positive are infected with the fast-spreading Omnicron variant. The Delta variant makes of 41% of cases.
Florida has jumped from around 13,500 new cases the week ending Dec. 9 to 29,500 cases the week ending Dec. 16 and 125,000 new cases the week ending Dec. 23. Over that time the positivity rate increased from 2.6% to 13.8%.
The increase is taking place locally as well, if less dramatically. Still, Bradford went from six to 27 new cases over the past two weeks, increasing the positivity rate from 1.5% to 6.5%. Union County had no new cases two weeks ago. Last week, there were 21 new cases, for an 8.7% positivity rate. Clay County cases went from 116 to 311 last week, for an 8.5% positivity rate.
Meanwhile, vaccination rates have not changed for Bradford or Union, with 47% of Bradford vaccinated and 53% of Union. Clay’s population is 55% vaccinated.
According to the CDC, COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalizations and death.
The CDC recommends that everyone 5 years and older protect themselves from COVID-19 by getting fully vaccinated.
The CDC recommends that everyone ages 18 years and older should get a booster shot at least two months after their initial J&J/Janssen vaccine or six months after completing their primary COVID-19 vaccination series of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna.
For more information on testing and vaccination, visit www.floridahealthcovid19.gov. In Bradford, call the health department at 904-964-7732. In Union, call 386-496-3211. In Clay, call 904-529-2800.
