Florida reported 10,892 new cases of Covid-19 for the week of November 26 to December 2, a figure that has been stable in the last six weeks.
The figure is well below the more than 21,000 new daily cases that were reported this summer, and with no infections yet from the omicron variant.
The latest tally brings the total number of COVID-19 cases to 3,686,860 since the first two cases of the pandemic were reported in Florida 21 months ago, on March 1, 2020, Tampabay reported .
The state added 153 deaths since the previous report. This brings the total number of pandemic deaths statewide to 61,701.
Most of these occurred more than a week ago and were recorded by the state in the last seven days. Officials may take two weeks or more to confirm COVID-related deaths. The report indicates that 35 deaths occurred between November 26 and December 2, although that number will likely increase as more are confirmed.
This report comes as the first cases of the new omicron variant were reported in at least nine US states, including California, Hawaii, and New York. As of Friday, no cases of the omicron variant have been reported in Florida.
The Florida Department of Health announced in June that it would no longer release daily COVID-19 data. Instead, it now publishes a report every Friday, but continues to withhold information that was previously publicly available.
As of June 4, the state no longer reports non-resident vaccinations, coronavirus cases, and deaths. The state has rejected repeated requests to provide nonresident data to the Tampa Bay Times .
Florida is the only state that updates its coronavirus case burden and data only once a week.
Although weekly reports can be more reliable than daily updates, experts caution that infrequent data updates can delay the identification of emerging trends.
Vaccinations: Florida administered 189,637 doses last week, the highest vaccination rate in more than two months. About 101,000 doses were for first-time recipients. Nearly 6.4 million Floridians ages 5 and older remain unvaccinated.
This report has data for the fourth full week in which children ages 5 to 11 were eligible for the pediatric dose of Pfizer. However, childhood vaccination rates have fallen to just 20,314 last week, less than half the rate two weeks ago. In all, 9 percent of children ages 5 to 11 have received their first vaccination.
As of Thursday, 69 percent of Floridians ages 5 and older had received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, according to the state.
Still, 34 percent of Florida’s total population remains unvaccinated, including children under the age of 4 who are not yet eligible to receive the vaccine. Those are the next age groups that can get approved in the coming weeks.
Vaccination rates are highest among older Florida adults. About 89 percent of people 65 and older have been vaccinated, and 87 percent of people 60 to 64 years old are vaccinated.
Children and young adults remain the least vaccinated age groups. In Florida, ages 12 to 19 are 57 percent vaccinated, ages 20 to 29 are 58 percent vaccinated, and ages 30 to 39 are 67 percent vaccinated.
