Florida reports 22,630 COVID cases as 11.5 million Americans get updated COVID booster shots

ORLANDO, Fla. – Over the last two weeks, Florida has reported 22,630 new cases of COVID-19 and 522 virus-related deaths to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

That’s down from 40,351 reported cases two weeks ago.

The CDC said 11.5 million Americans have gotten the updated COVID-19 booster since it was released to the public last month. This new bivalent vaccine is tailored to handle the omicron variant.

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Still, only about 40% of Americans have even the original booster shot, released last year, according to reporting by The Washington Post, which lags behind other countries like the United Kingdom, where more than 70% of adults have gotten a third dose of vaccine.

The low booster rate is considered a major factor in the high COVID-19 mortality rate last winter, along with continuing deaths.

According to polling by the Kaiser Family Foundation, over half of adults said they’ve heard “little” or “nothing at all” about the new COVID-19 booster.

A third of adults said they have either gotten the new booster or are planning to get one as soon as possible.

That number is higher for people over 65 years old at about 45%. Two in five adults, especially those under 65, are not sure if the new vaccine is recommended for them.

The CDC said the new booster shot is available for people ages 12 and older, if it has been at least two months since their last vaccine dose, or three months since they had the virus.

Health experts are concerned about Americans lagging in the new vaccine if there is another winter surge of COVID-19.

The Washington Post contributed to this report.

Below is a breakdown of Florida COVID-19 data reported by the CDC and the state on Oct. 7:

Cases

There were 22,630 new coronavirus cases in Florida over the last two weeks. This week, there were 10,793 cases reported. There were 11,837 cases the previous week.

Florida has seen 7,129,245 cases since the virus was first detected on March 1, 2020.

Deaths

The Florida Department of Health reported a cumulative death toll in Florida of 81,661. There were 522 fatalities recorded over the past two weeks, which we get by subtracting the number of deaths reported by DOH two weeks ago (81,139) from the current cumulative death toll.

The state stopped reporting the number of non-residents who died in Florida when the new weekly reporting method began.

Hospitalizations

The state Agency for Health Care Administration deleted its current COVID-19 hospitalization database and the state is no longer reporting how many patients have been hospitalized with the virus. However, Florida is still required to report that information to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the CDC continues to release that information online. The most recent hospital numbers show 1,357 adult and 24 pediatric patients in Florida.

Positivity rate

The Florida Department of Health reported the percent of positive results from coronavirus tests was 7.1% for the week of Sept. 30 but did not provide how many people were tested during the past two weeks. Health officials say the rate should remain between 5% and 10% to prove a community has a hold of the virus and is curbing infections.

Below is the Central Florida region breakdown of new cases and new vaccination numbers between Sept. 30 - Oct. 6.

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