TAMPA BAY TIMES – Florida reported 430,297 new coronavirus cases over the seven-day period from Jan. 7-13, an average of about 61,471 infections per day.
That’s over 2 percent of Florida’s total population infected in the past week.
It’s the third week in a row the state has shattered previous infection records. The seven-day average of omicron variant infections is more than double the 25,000 daily average the delta wave hit this past summer.
Florida’s first omicron case was detected on Dec. 6, when daily cases were less than 2,000 infections per day on average.
The latest tally brings the total number of the state’s COVID-19 cases up to 4,992,265 since the pandemic’s first two cases in Florida were reported 22 months ago on March 1, 2020.
The state added 470 deaths since the previous report. That’s 150 percent higher than the week before and brings the total statewide number of pandemic deaths to 63,158.
Most of these occurred more than a week ago and were recorded by the state in the past seven days. It can take officials two weeks or more to confirm COVID-19 related deaths, and the holidays may delay reporting.
The Florida Department of Health announced in June that it no longer would release daily COVID-19 data. Instead, it now releases one report every Friday — but it continues to withhold other information that previously was publicly available.
As of June 4, the state no longer reports non-resident vaccinations, coronavirus cases and fatalities. The state has repeatedly declined requests to provide non-resident data to the Tampa Bay Times.
Despite repeated requests from the Times, the state does not report the number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths by vaccination status.
Vaccinations for children ages 5-11 numbered 21,382 in the past week, up from 18,465 the week before.
In all, 18 percent of children in the 5-11 age group have had at least one vaccine shot … READ MORE [subscription may be required]
