Leon County COVID roundup: Omicron spreading through FSU, K-12 schools, local jail
Florida State University has had more COVID-19 cases in the weeks since students returned from winter break than at any other time during the pandemic.
There are an estimated 641 students in quarantine, 552 of whom are positive with the virus, according to the school's FSU affiliated cases and contract tracing chart. Total enrollment in the fall 2021 was 45,494, according to a spokeswoman.
In the week that ended Sunday, 20% of all tests conducted on campus — 1,920 — came back positive. The university's highest rate of infection amongst on-campus COVID tests ever.
The number could be much higher, however, as students and faculty who are tested off campus can choose whether or not to report their results through the school's daily wellness application.
"At the University Health Center, we continue to see COVID-positive patients as we regularly do, and we have also seen an uptick in cases," said Amy Magnuson, the director of University Health Services. "Most students are reporting mild to moderate symptoms."
A spokesperson for Florida A&M University wrote the current number of infected students is "not available at the moment" in an email.
"I can tell you that we have 27 students in isolation on campus right now, but this is not all of our students in isolation or quarantine," the email read.
Find a COVID test near you: Looking for a COVID-19 test in Leon County? Here is a list of all local testing locations
What you need to know: Local COVID resource guide
Leon County jail: 200 positive inmates
Tuesday, the number of inmates with COVID-19 was up to 200 and the number of infected staff was 36, according to Leon County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Angela Green. The total number of inmates in the entire facility is 1,175, making the percentage of infected patients about 17%.
The cases are spread throughout the facility's eight pods, which are sections of the jail holding between 30-90 inmates.
All of the infected inmates, Green said, have symptoms that are either non-existent or match those of the common cold. None are hospitalized and no deaths linked to the virus have occurred in the facility in months.
While under lockdown inmates are heavily monitored and are not permitted to leave their calls except for routine activities including showers, doctor visits and exercise.
Leon County Schools: over 800 self-reported cases
As of Tuesday, Leon County Schools reported 893 self-reported COVID cases among students within the past 14 days.
Lincoln High School had the most self-reported positive cases with 104 followed by Lawton Chiles High School with 90 and Leon High School with 86.
Apalachee Elementary School had 11 staff who have self-reported a positive COVID case in the past 14 days, the most out of any school in the district.
Leon County schools usually see a 95% attendance rate, according to the district. But some schools were down in the 80s in the first week of the spring semester.
The week beginning Jan. 10, however, attendance numbers started climbing back up: Hartsfield Elementary School saw a 77% attendance rate on Jan. 5, but the average attendance for the week of Jan. 10 increased to 89%.
Gilchrist Elementary School had the highest average attendance rate for the week of Jan. 10 with 98%. It also had the fifth-highest number of self-reported COVID cases with 37 students.
COVID hospitalizations in Leon County continue slow climb
As of Tuesday morning, there were 143 people with COVID-19 hospitalized in the capital city and county.
Health workers at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH) were treating 75, while Capital Regional Health Center had 68 infected patients.
A week prior, there were 104 COVID-19 patients in Tallahassee hospitals.
Of TMH's 75 patients, 30 are vaccinated and 59% are incidentally infected, meaning they were admitted to the hospital for other injuries or illnesses and happened to test positive for the deadly virus.
CRMC spokeswoman Rachel Stiles said the majority of COVID-19 patients are unvaccinated.
Statewide look
Florida reported 408,841 new cases of coronavirus in the week ending Sunday, down 3.4% from the previous week. Then, 423,150 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19 were reported.
Florida ranked 11th among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the latest week coronavirus cases in the United States increased 5.8% from the week before, with 5,438,242 cases reported.
With 6.45% of the country's population, Florida had 7.52% of the country's cases in the last week. Across the country, 39 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before.
Many counties did not report during data during the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, disrupting the latest week's statistics. That data is being compared to a week with backlogged cases and deaths from the New Year's holiday weekend. Week-to-week comparisons are skewed and these numbers will be unreliable even as they're accurate to what states reported.
Local breakdown: Leon County's COVID cases up 10.5%
Leon County reported 6,221 cases in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 5,628 cases. Throughout the pandemic it has reported 69,449 cases.
Gadsden County reported 859 cases in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 802 cases. Throughout the pandemic it has reported 11,242 cases.
Wakulla County reported 622 cases in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 434 cases. Throughout the pandemic it has reported 7,873 cases.
Jefferson County reported 304 cases in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 181 cases. Throughout the pandemic it has reported 3,145 cases.
Franklin County reported 177 cases in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 86 cases. Throughout the pandemic it has reported 2,568 cases.
Jackson County reported 740 cases in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 523 cases. Throughout the pandemic it has reported 11,796 cases.
Florida does not directly publish county-level death data.
Vaccines
Across Florida, cases fell in four counties, with the best declines in Miami-Dade County, with 93,321 cases from 110,441 a week earlier; in Palm Beach County, with 26,866 cases from 29,147; and in Broward County, with 48,103 cases from 50,254.
>> See how your community has fared with recent coronavirus cases
Florida ranked 18th among states in share of people receiving at least one shot, with 75.5% of its residents at least partially vaccinated. The national rate is 74.6%, a USA TODAY analysis of CDC data shows. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which are the most used in the United States, require two doses administered a few weeks apart.
In the week ending Wednesday, Florida reported administering another 495,312 vaccine doses, including 129,643 first doses. In the previous week, the state administered 456,278 vaccine doses, including 116,996 first doses. In all, Florida reported it has administered 34,496,916 total doses.
Within Florida, the worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis were in Miami-Dade County with 3,435 cases per 100,000 per week; Broward County with 2,463; and Alachua County with 2,427. The Centers for Disease Control says high levels of community transmission begin at 100 cases per 100,000 per week.
Adding the most new cases overall were Miami-Dade County, with 93,321 cases; Broward County, with 48,103 cases; and Orange County, with 30,752. Weekly case counts rose in 63 counties from the previous week. The worst increases from the prior week's pace were in Duval, Brevard and Pinellas counties.
In Florida, 184 people were reported dead of COVID-19 in the week ending Sunday. In the week before that, 184 people were reported dead.
A total of 5,041,918 people in Florida have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 62,504 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States 65,699,947 people have tested positive and 850,605 people have died.
>> Track coronavirus cases across the United States
Florida's COVID-19 hospital admissions rising
USA TODAY analyzed federal hospital data as of Sunday, Jan. 16. Likely COVID patients admitted in the state:
Last week: 16,971
The week before that: 15,986
Four weeks ago: 3,039
Likely COVID patients admitted in the nation:
Last week: 203,221
The week before that: 185,954
Four weeks ago: 90,739
Hospitals in 41 states reported more COVID-19 patients than a week earlier, while hospitals in 35 states had more COVID-19 patients in intensive-care beds. Hospitals in 43 states admitted more COVID-19 patients in the latest week than a week prior, the USA TODAY analysis of U.S. Health and Human Services data shows.
Ana Goñi-Lessan contributed.
The USA TODAY Network is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from Johns Hopkins University and the Centers for Disease Control. If you have questions about the data or the story, contact Mike Stucka at mstucka@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Leon County COVID cases increased in FSU, school district and jail
