Florida’s new COVID cases decrease for 2nd straight week

(Rebecca Blackwell, Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Florida has now gone two straight weeks reporting fewer COVID-19 infections than the week prior, evidence that the state is now on the other side of the omicron variant peak.

The latest weekly report from the state’s health department, posted Friday evening, lists 198,719 new cases from Jan. 21-27. That’s an average of 28,388 new infections per day.

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The state reported 288,793 new cases from the previous week, an average of 41,256 per day.

This week’s case total was the state’s fewest since the week leading up to Christmas. (See the full state report at the bottom of this page.)

The statewide new-case positivity rate dropped for a third straight week, sitting at 23.5%.

A look at new COVID-19 cases and positivity rates across Florida over recent weeks. (Florida Department of Health)

According to the Florida Hospital Association, 9,511 people in the state remain hospitalized with COVID-19. That includes patients who went to the hospital for another ailment but tested positive for the virus while there.

Since the start of the pandemic, Florida has reported at least 5,478,894 cases of COVID-19 and 64,640 deaths, according to the CDC’s latest data Friday.

The case count would not include people who test positive using an at-home test and don’t report the result to health officials.

See the full weekly COVID-19 report from the Florida Department of Health below:

For information on where you can get a COVID-19 test or vaccine in South Florida, click here.