Though the Florida Department of Health will now only be releasing bi-weekly COVID-19 reports, and the next report won’t come out until Mar.25, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that from Mar. 9 to Mar. 15, the Space Coast saw another decrease in COVID-19 cases but an increase in the numbers deaths.
While other states continue to publish timely COVID-19 data, the Florida Department of Health announced Friday that it would now release the data every other week. But the CDC still puts out COVID-19 case counts, deaths, vaccination rates, and testing figures for the Space Coast through a COVID-19 data tracker.
Because the CDC counts federal entities like military personnel, COVID-19 figures from the CDC may be higher than FDOH’s data. Additionally, not all data comes out at the same time and may come from different datasets on the CDC’s website.
Over the last seven days, there was an average of 36.38 cases per 100,000 population in Brevard County or 219 total cases. According to an analysis done by the CDC on these figures compared to the week prior’s, this marks a decrease of about 37 percentage points. And of those who took a COVID-19 test 2.09% tested positive from Mar. 7 to Mar. 13.
Based on new CDC transmission guidelines, this makes the Space Coast a community of low transmission. Though old CDC guidelines would have categorized Brevard County as a community of moderate transmission, which is one where cases per 100,000 population are between 10 and 40 and the positivity rate is between 5% and 8%.
The new CDC guidelines factor in hospitalization rates and hospital capacity when factoring a community’s transmission rate. And in Brevard County, hospital admissions saw a decrease, according to the CDC data tracker, there were about 21 confirmed COVID-19 admissions and about 4 ICU beds in use from Mar. 8 to Mar. 14.
And while cases have decreased in the wake of January’s omicron surge, the death toll from the highly infectious variant is now rearing its head. From Mar. 7 to Mar. 15, there were 31 COVID-19 related deaths on the Space Coast; an increase of 82.35 percentage points since the week prior, according to a CDC COVID-19 dashboard.
Yet, the amount of eligible residents—those ages five and older—in Brevard County who are fully vaccinated is still only at 67.20%. However, 78.5% of the eligible population has received at least one dose of a vaccine.
CDC vaccination figures are higher than FDOH ones because the CDC counts federal entities while FDOH does not.
And as COVID-19 cases continue to decrease, the CDC COVID-19 dashboard data also shows that Brevard County residents testing for COVID-19 decreased by 66 percentage points since the previous week. From Mar. 2 to Mar. 9 there were 6,314 tests performed. These figures may not include tests taken in at home COVID-19 test kits.
Statewide, there were 8,026 cases or 39.2 cases per 100,000 population from Mar. 9 to Mar. 15. And only 69.9% of the eligible population was fully vaccinated but 82.7% had received at least one dose of a vaccine.
Nationwide, there have been 79,445,322 COVID-19 cases and 964,831 deaths since the start of the pandemic. Currently, only 69.4% of eligible Americans are fully vaccinated.
Amira Sweilem is the data reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Sweilem at 386-406-5648 or asweilem@floridatoday.com.
