Marion’s COVID, hospital numbers down again, but deaths per 100k within the county rose

Jessica Kelly, a librarian, wears a mask amid the coronavirus pandemic as she helps serve food during the Summer BreakSpot free meals for children program at the Belleview Public Library in Belleview, Fla. on Tuesday, June 30, 2020. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2020.

Jessica Kelly, a librarian, wears a mask amid the coronavirus pandemic as she helps serve food during the Summer BreakSpot free meals for children program at the Belleview Public Library in Belleview last year, in this file photo. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 

Marion County’s COVID numbers continued their sustained decline last week as the county registered 230 new cases, according to figures released by the Florida Department of Health Friday evening, down from 252 cases the previous week.

Additionally, the county positivity rate and cases per 100,000 also fell. The positivity rate dropped from 4.9% to 4.4% and the cases per 100,000 went from 67.7 to 61.8.

The state as a whole recorded 12,880 new cases of COVID-19 during the week of Oct. 22 to Oct. 28, with cases throughout the state falling again.  The last increase in cases in Florida was when cases went from 149,714 on Aug. 13 to 151,715 on Aug. 20.

Vaccination rates rose for the first time since the week of Sept. 24, as the state recorded administering 340,468 doses.

Overall county hospitalization numbers dropped from last week, but the percentage of COVID patients in the ICU remains nearly unchanged

Health and Human Services data show 81% of all inpatient beds in the county are occupied, down from 86% at the time the previous report was released, with COVID-19 patients making up 5% of the inpatient population, down from 6% previously reported.

Further, HHS data shows 86% of all ICU beds are occupied, and COVID-19 patients make up 7% of those in the ICU.

HHS data also shows that while confirmed cases are down 9% from the previous report to 60 per 100,000, confirmed deaths are up 162% to 6 deaths per 100,000.

The Food and Drug Administration authorized emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in children 5 through 11 years old last friday

MCPS Update

MCPS recorded just 18 total new cases for the week of Oct. 23 – Oct. 29, with 16 cases being students confirmed COVID-19 positive by the Florida Department of Health in Marion County. Additionally, two employees were among the confirmed cases.

The figures, released Monday afternoon, match the total number of cases reported the previous week.

Quarantine numbers were down as well, with MCPS reporting only 57 students and employees were quarantined due to direct contact with someone testing positive for COVID-19.

The quarantines included 54 students and only 3 district employees.