COVID-19 cases in Florida continue trending upward

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention is urging extra masking for folks in some areas of the nation the place COVID-19 is surging once more.

As for what’s occurring in Jacksonville, there might be an replace on Friday when the Florida Division of Well being releases new numbers.

However there are updates every day on the variety of new instances statewide which can be reported to the CDC.

Following Florida’s newest report of recent instances to the CDC, the state is now averaging almost 8,000 new instances a day. The common over the past seven days is 7,909. The final time the state’s common was this excessive was mid-February, because the state was coming down from the winter omicron peak.

As instances rise statewide, Jacksonville hospitals say they’re seeing a slight enhance within the variety of sufferers with COVID-19.

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On Thursday, News4JAX spoke with employees from hospitals and folks at testing websites. Nobody regionally is asking for a masks mandate, however they see a rise in instances.

Jeff Cretella was on the solely state-run testing website nonetheless open in Jacksonville. It’s within the Brentwood space on the Northside. He went to the location as a result of he not too long ago returned from a marriage in Connecticut the place there’s a surge in COVID-19 instances and lots of the company turned sick. He took an at-home take a look at, however the outcomes diverse

“So I examined adverse on Tuesday, after which yesterday, I examined optimistic within the morning, however then final night time I examined adverse,” Cretella mentioned. “So who is aware of if these assessments even work, in order that’s why I simply wish to be certain that.”

And whereas the state solely has one testing website left, Agape Well being is working two different websites for the town. Mia Jones. who oversees these websites, says whereas testing is down, extra are coming again optimistic — not solely at their websites, however they’re studying of extra instances in colleges.

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“We have now been notified that a variety of our colleges are excessive colleges and center colleges are reporting increasingly instances. And since they’re reporting extra further instances, we all know that there’s an uptick in optimistic. We see it within the ones that do take the time and are available and get a PCR take a look at versus utilizing the house take a look at,” Jones mentioned. “However we’ve to verify folks perceive it isn’t over.”

And that’s what some native hospitals are saying, as effectively.

On Thursday, at Baptist Well being’s 5 services, there have been 29 COVID-19 instances, 5 of which had been being handled within the intensive care unit. At UF Well being’s two areas, there have been 15 sufferers, three of whom had been within the ICU

Chad Neilsen, UF Well being director of an infection prevention, says there’s a slight uptick, however the outcomes are higher than up to now.

“Properly at the least regionally, the variety of people dying as a consequence of COVID-19 main an infection may be very, very low,” Neilsen mentioned. “The people that we’re seeing within the First Coast space who’re succumbing to COVID-19 are typically secondary instances of COVID-19, so it’s not their main reason for dying.”

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Due to this slight enhance, Neilsen says these with ongoing well being points ought to think about masking up once more.

So whereas the numbers don’t seem like dramatic within the Jacksonville space, well being officers predict them to proceed to go up much more earlier than leveling off once more.