Florida residents testing positive for COVID decreased the past two weeks

The numbers of Florida residents testing positive for COVID-19 have decreased the past two weeks, according to data released Friday.

The state had a reported 54,353 new cases during the week that started Aug. 5, the first time in at least 10 weeks that it had fewer than 65,000 new cases, according to the data from the Florida Department of Health.

The state had 65,665 new cases during the week that started July 29, which also was a decrease from previous weeks.

According to the state report, the positivity rate was at 18.4% over the past week, down from 21.2% from the previous report of two weeks ago.

Source: CDC

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as of Aug. 12, 2022

Despite the decreases, Holmes, Taylor and Glades were the only Florida counties not listed at high-risk for transmission, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC recommends masks indoors in areas listed at a high level.

Meanwhile, the new data showed that at least 78,559 residents have died during the pandemic. That total was up from 77,565 deaths in a report released two weeks ago. It is unclear when the additional deaths occurred because of lags in reporting.

Florida saw a surge in cases during the past few months because of the spread of subvariants of the coronavirus.

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