ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations decreased throughout Florida and the U.S. at large after rising throughout the summer and peaking around Labor Day weekend.
The latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that Florida reported 1,588 COVID-19 hospital admissions from Sept. 23 through Sept. 29 — a 21-percent drop from the past week. Hospitalizations accounted for roughly 16 percent of Florida's reported cases as the state's Department of Health reported 9,540 new positive cases of COVID-19 that week.
Overall, there were 19,079 reported COVID hospital admissions nationwide during the last full week of September, a drop from the previous week of about 3 percent.
As cases fell steadily in Florida during the end of September, the state saw a major increase in vaccine doses administered. Weekly doses were low throughout the month as people waited for the updated COVID booster, which was released in the middle of the month. On the week of Sept. 22, the Department of Health reported 1,465 vaccine doses administered, the highest weekly number reported since the summer.
With testing levels still relatively low statewide, new wastewater surveillance data has proved invaluable for tracking the increasing presence of the virus in various Florida counties. According to recent data from BioBot, Pinellas, Seminole, Palm Beach, Monroe and Alachua counties reached their lowest concentrations of the virus since July.
Meanwhile, Orange County reached its lowest viral concentration levels since June, and Miami-Dade County reached its lowest level since May.
As of Sept. 27, the national average of COVID-19 presence (as measured by the number of copies of the virus per milliliter of wastewater) is plateauing at 512 copies/mL.