JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Florida’s number of coronavirus cases diagnosed last week — 45,449 — is nearing the increases seen in last summer’s spike. That week-to-week growth rate of infections is the highest the state has seen since June 2020.
Nearly one-in-five of the nation’s new COVID-19 infections is from Florida, White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients said at a briefing.
The rate in Jacksonville and three nearby counties are even higher, leading the state in new infections per capita and surpassing the increases seen in Florida’s first spike last summer.
Jacksonville had 4,328 cases reported in the week ending Thursday, 19% more than its July 2020 peak and the largest weekly increase since the middle of January, as the city and the country were coming off the winter surge.
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For perspective, Duval County had more cases in the pervious seven days than Orange County (Orlando), Hillsborough County (Tampa) and Palm Beach County even though they each have a population half-again larger.
According to the Florida Department of Health data, Baker and Nassau counties had the largest increases per 100,000 population in the state last week (see interactive map below). Bradford and Duval counties were the only other counties in the state with infection rates above 400 per 100,000.
While Baker and Bradford counties have among the lowest vaccination rates in Florida (29% and 35% respectively), Nassau County’s 50% and Duval County’s 49% vaccination rates are not far below the state’s average of 59%.
Weekly cases per 100,000 population
Point to county for data
CORONAVIRUS IN FLORIDA: County-by-county case and vaccination rates | Latest updates
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Nassau County Emergency Management posted Saturday on Facebook about the “significant increase.”
“Case numbers are fast approaching the highest numbers seen since before vaccine became widely available in Florida,” the post read, then outlined all the places where the Department of Health is giving free, no-appointment vaccines this week.
“We’re over the virus, but the virus is not over with us,” Seminole County Medical Director Dr. Todd Husty told our sister station, WKMG-TV.
Charts from the state health department illustrate that while COVID-19 cases have been rising in the past four weeks, vaccination numbers are falling.
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The number of people getting a COVID-19 shot in Florida has dropped roughly 80% from its peak in April.
“This is not going in the right direction. We’ve been noticing that for four weeks, and it just keeps going that way,” Husty said.
We asked people in our News4Nassau Facebook Group if they’ll go back to wearing masks in public. Most of the responses were no.
One person told us they never stopped wearing masks because of the risk.
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