Florida reports 21,451 COVID cases over last 2 weeks

ORLANDO, Fla. – In the latest report from Florida, the state reported 21,451 new cases in the last two weeks.

As the state continues to see a decline, the World Health Organization said in its latest report that COVID-19 cases and deaths are on the decline globally.

The organization said, however, the reported numbers carry considerable uncertainty because “many countries have stopped widespread testing for the coronavirus, meaning that many cases are likely going undetected.”

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As cases are on the decline, U.S. health officials are considering how to keep vaccines updated to protect against the ever-changing coronavirus. A panel of vaccine advisers to the Food and Drug Administration spent hours debating key questions for revamping the shots a firm conclusion was not reached.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law this week that established in-person hospital and long-term care facility visitation rights regardless of COVID vaccination status.

“We worked very hard with our hospitals to tell them, ‘Yes, I understand you’re trying to mitigate COVID, and that’s important, but you can’t just shut out all these human interactions for people who are in the hospital and have really difficult circumstances,” DeSantis said at the bill signing.

A new research push was ordered by President Joe Biden to learn more about long COVID, a catch-all term for a hydra-headed condition whose symptoms can include brain fog, recurring shortness of breath, pain and fatigue.

The White House also acknowledged that long COVID appears to be a disability, meaning that patients could be entitled to the protection of federal laws that prohibit discrimination based on health conditions and call for accommodations to allow people to lead productive lives.

Below is a breakdown of Florida COVID-19 data reported by the CDC and the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services on April 8:

Cases

The CDC reported 2,162 new cases on Friday, based on daily reporting it gets from the Florida Dept. of Health.

There were 21,451 new coronavirus cases over the last two weeks with 10,114 reported from March 25 to 31 and 11,337 reported from April 1 to April 7.

Florida has seen 5,862,817 cases since the virus was first detected on March 1, 2020.

Deaths

The Florida Dept. of Health reported a cumulative death toll in Florida of 73,538. There were 511 fatalities recorded over the past two weeks, which we get by subtracting the number of deaths reported by DOH two weeks ago (73,027) from the current cumulative death toll of 73,538.

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 668 adult and 16 pediatric patients in Florida.

Positivity rate

The Florida Dept. of Health reported the percent of positive results from coronavirus tests was 3.8% for the week of March 25-April 7 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 March 25 - April 7.

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