1 Million Floridians Fully Vaccinated, Daily Cases Drop
By Abe Aboraya, WMFE
Florida recorded 3,787 new COVID-19 cases on Monday - the lowest daily count in at least a month.
Florida is now averaging 7,056 cases per day in the last week, compared to an average of more than 10,275 daily cases two weeks ago. That’s a 31 percent drop, according to data from Johns Hopkins University analyzed by NPR.
Florida is mirroring the nationwide trend. The U.S. is averaging 90,416 cases per day, compared to more than 169,495 cases per day January 24.
Another promising statistic: More than 1 million Floridians have been completely vaccinated against COVID-19.
Florida’s vaccination numbers are improving, and retailers like Walmart, Publix, Sam’s Club and Winn Dixie have come online in the last week offering vaccines to Floridians 65-and-up. Those new allocations take time to be reflected in state reports.
Just shy of 5 percent of Florida’s population is immunized. Florida still has a long way to go to get to the 70 to 80 percent needed for herd immunity.
On the downside, the death rate is still high in Florida, averaging more than 153 deaths per day in the last week. Deaths are a lagging statistic, though.
Florida continues to lead the U.S. with the most cases of the B.1.1.7. variant first found the U.K.: 379 in Florida. That variant appears to be more contagious and early scientific literature suggests it could be more deadly as well.
U.K. Coronavirus Variant Found On Central Florida Campus
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A student at the University of Central Florida has been diagnosed with a variant of the coronavirus first found in the United Kingdom and thought to be more easily transmissible.
How Florida Ranks In Vaccinating Older Americans
Associated Press
As states continue to roll out vaccination efforts, some states have made age demographic data available for those who have received at least one shot.
This data shows that while some states are making progress in vaccinating older Americans, other states are lagging. This chart is current as of February 9, 2021 and will not update.
Source: AP analysis of vaccine data publicly available on state health department websites; American Community Survey, 2019.
UK opens quarantine hotels, pushes on with vaccine drive
By Jill Lawless, Associated Press
LONDON — Britain’s newly established quarantine hotels have received their first guests as the government tries to prevent new coronavirus variants derailing its fast-moving vaccination drive.
Passengers arriving at London’s Heathrow Airport on Monday morning were escorted by security guards to buses that took them to nearby hotels. Under the new rules, people arriving in England from 33 high-risk countries must stay in designated hotels for 10 days at their own expense.
Britain has given a first vaccine shot to over 15 million people, almost a quarter of the population. But the hotel quarantines were put in place because health officials are concerned that vaccines may not work as well on some virus variants, including one identified in South Africa.
