The threat of COVID-19 in Polk County has subsided to a level not seen since before the omicron wave began in December.
The positivity rate of testing in the Polk County has fallen to 3.7%, according to a weekly update released late Friday afternoon by the Florida Department of Health. It had been at 7.1% a week earlier.
The rate, based on results of tests reported to the state agency, had reached 33.8% in January.
The state disclosed 460 newly confirmed COVID cases in Polk County, a decrease of 53.1%. The weekly total, the lowest reported since early December, marked the seventh consecutive week that infections have declined following steady increases in December and January.
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The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now rates the community transmission level for Polk County as “substantial.” The agency had declared the risk to be high for all 67 Florida counties for several weeks.
As of Friday, the CDC rated only nine counties as “high” for transmission risk. That group included Hardee County, which borders Polk to the south.
The threshold for that designation is 100 cases per 100,000 population. The CDC listed Polk’s prevalence on Friday at 63.88 per 100,000 residents.
The CDC’s COVID Tracker website listed 41 COVID-related deaths for Polk County residents in the week ending Thursday. That reflected 22 fewer deaths than the previous seven-day period.
The Department of Health does not list deaths by county in its updates.
The CDC had recorded a cumulative 2,822 deaths for Polk County through Feb. 24, according to a website maintained by Jason Salemi, an associate professor of epidemiology for the USF Health College of Public Health.
The Department of Health registered another 1,207 COVID-related deaths statewide, a jump of 36% over the previous week’s report. The new deaths pushed the cumulative figure to 70,997 since the pandemic began in spring 2020.
Deaths are a delayed indicator, and the Department of Health doesn’t disclose the dates on which the deaths occurred.
New COVID cases dropped 44.8% as the Department of Health disclosed 14,148 new infections among Floridians. The statewide positivity rate dropped from 5.6% to 3.3%.
The CDC reported 144 hospital admissions in Polk County for the week ending Thursday, a decrease of 36% from the previous week.
Vaccinations rose slightly in Polk County after falling in previous weeks. The Department of Health reported that 408 doses were dispensed in the county, a rise of 3% from the previous week. The figure includes initial doses and booster shots.
Among Polk County residents age 5 and older, 66% have received at least one dose of a vaccine, the state agency reported. The rate for all eligible Floridians is 74%.
The CDC’s COVID Tracker site lists 69.6% of eligible Polk County residents as having received at least one shot and 59.8% as fully vaccinated. Among those 12 and older, 38% have received an initial series and a booster dose, the CDC reported.
The agency recommends booster doses for maximum protection against the virus that causes COVID-19.
In Florida, the rate for a full initial series of vaccinations is 22% in the 5-through-11 age group. The rate is 95% among those ages 65 and older.
Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on Twitter @garywhite13.
