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COVID-19 update: Booster uptake is rising; seniors are the largest group getting infected

AuthorAuthorDavid Schutz, assistant managing editor at the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
PUBLISHED: | UPDATED:

Florida seniors represent the largest number of new COVID-19 infections as the highly infectious omicron subvariant BA.5 sweeps through the state.

Of Florida’s 73,347 new confirmed cases reported for the week ending July 28, more than 17,000 are people over 65. Clearly though, COVID-19 can infect the very young as well ? 550 of the new cases this week were babies under six months old.

With the testing positivity rate above 20% statewide, more Floridians rolled up their sleeves this week for COVID vaccines. Another 57,805 people got a COVID booster dose and nearly 15,000 people received their first dose. The youngest age group — six months to four years — is the least vaccinated with only 1.5% of more than 1.7 million children receiving a shot.

Most people are reporting mild symptoms with the omicron subvariant now circulating but the disease continues to prove deadly for some Floridians. State health officials reported 903 additional COVID deaths during the last two weeks, bringing the state’s overall COVID death toll to 77,565.

All but three of Florida’s 67 counties are now in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s “high” category for COVID-19 community levels.

Although positivity rates remain above 20% in all three South Florida counties, they have remained basically stable since early June.

Here are the updated key coronavirus statistics for Florida:

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