COVID-19 cases rising again in Florida; experts urge vigilance as we near ‘close to the end’

Coronavirus cases are back on the rise in Florida.

An expert we spoke to blames the surge on Florida being open for business, and it’s a lesson he hopes the rest of the country doesn’t have to learn the hard way.

“When we look at recent testing, we’re at 12.5% positivity,” said Joseph Pepe, the administrator for Florida Department of Health in Charlotte County. “And that’s much higher than we were before prior to the holiday break. That was somewhere around 4.5% positivity.”

Pepe says Charlotte County’s surge comes from big events such as spring break and changing attitudes.

“Just a lot of folks going out celebrating, but then not wearing masks and just that social distancing piece of it,” Pepe said. “And all it takes is a handful of positive people to really spread and impact others.”

The spread isn’t confined to Charlotte County. There is a 14.6% positivity rate on COVID-19 tests being processed through Lee Health’s labs. In Southwest Florida, our 7-day average for new COVID-19 cases has gone up 18 days in a row. That trend is playing out in other parts of the state as well.

“We definitely still have a large number of cases,” said Cindy Prins, an epidemiologist at UF. “So the fact that we seem to be going upward again is really bad news for Florida.”

What is bad news for Florida is bad news for the country.

“If you see a rise in Florida, it means it will be much worse somewhere else,” said Ali Mokdad, a public health researcher with Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at University of Washington in Seattle.

Mokdad studies COVID-19 projections and says Florida is already in a worst-case scenario with travel trending up and mask wearing trending down.

“We’re very close to the end,” Mokdad said. “Let’s remain a bit more vigilant, wearing the mask and staying away from each other.”

One thing that’s trending up as well is vaccine confidence.

According to the latest figures, nearly 74% of Americans surveyed say they’ll get the vaccine, or they’ve already gotten it.

MORE: 

• Florida Department of Health – COVID-19 Response page 
• Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation – COVID-19 Projections
• JHU COVID-19 KAP Vaccine Acceptance