JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Florida has gone six straight days with fewer than 4,000 new COVID-19 cases and the Department of Health’s weekly increase was only 25,792 -- down nearly one-third from last week and the smallest 7-day increase since the second week of July.
As of Thursday, the state has totaled 3,601,755 cases and 56,667 fatalities tied to COVID since the start of the pandemic.
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This was the sixth consecutive week that Florida reports fewer new infections than the week prior. That dates back to the middle of August when the state was averaging more than 21,000 new cases per day.
The state’s rate of positive tests was down to 4.8% -- the lowest in months.
Death attributed to the virus are also dropping -- 1,368 in the past week -- but slower than the overall rate of infection.
Hospitalizations are also declining steadily, with just over 4,000 patients admitted across the state with COVID as of Thursday, according to the Florida Hospital Association.
Florida has now vaccinated 11,339,967 residents and the number of shots is on the increase.
Several counties in Northeast Florida area now meet the CDC’s definition of “substantial” transmission, which is a step below High and a step above Moderate. These include Duval, Nassau, Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Flagler and Union. All of these counties have positivity rates considered “moderate” – but their case rates keep them in the “substantial” category. The other counties are still high transmission – due to case rates over 100.