This week, the Florida Department of Health reported only a single-digit daily increase in COVID-linked deaths, the lowest figure since September of last year.
The department announced Sunday that seven Floridians and two additional non-residents had died due to COVID-19 infections, according to The Palm Beach Post. Over the previous two weeks, the outlet reported, the number of daily COVID-19 deaths ranged from 22 to 98 people.
Deaths across the Sunshine State have been slowly declining since the beginning of the year. This, though, is the lowest it has been in a while. The last time the state recorded single-digit deaths was Sept. 28, when it reported five deaths in the preceding week.
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The Miami Herald, it’s worth noting, called into question the reporting from the health department, describing the calculation as “rather strange.”
“Resident deaths on the state dashboard rose by seven and non-resident deaths number remained the same,” the Herald reported. “But Miami-Dade alone reported 12 deaths and Broward and Palm Beach’s overall death tolls decreased by one and two, respectively.”
Much of the decline in deaths can be credited to COVID-19 spreading through communities, rendering people immune to the virus, and the number of vaccinated people quickly ticking up. There is similarly hopeful news coming out of the U.K.
Back in Florida, according to the Pensacola News Journal’s vaccine tracker, nearly 22% of residents have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. More than 35% have received at least one dose of an inoculation against the virus.
All Floridians 18 years and older became eligible for vaccination April 5.
The state’s health department reported 5,520 new COVID-19 cases with roughly 7.76% of virus tests coming back positive daily. Florida currently has the most cases of the latest U.K. variant with 3,510 verified infections.
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There are also 126 cases of the Brazilian variant and 27 cases of the South African variant.
Across the country, the U.S. is now administering nearly 3.1 million vaccination shots each day. To date, around 22.3% of the American population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Researchers have estimated around 70% of the country needs to be immune to COVID-19 in order for the virus to stop spreading through communities and die out.