Duval County recorded at least 14,370 new COVID cases last week — far more than the 8,300 at the height of the Delta wave last summer. But hospitalizations haven’t followed the same trend.
During the first week of August, Baptist Health reported more than 500 people hospitalized for COVID. Last week, a little over a hundred people were being treated in the network’s five hospitals.
Hospital data also show that the number of vaccinated, hospitalized COVID patients has been climbing, unlike earlier in the pandemic when almost all COVID hospitalizations were unvaccinated residents.
According to the Department of Health and Human Services, about 10% of all inpatient hospital beds in Duval county have COVID patients.
Another trend straying from the summer delta spike: Increased case counts aren’t prompting more people to getting vaccinated.
Vaccination rates have stayed relatively stagnant over the past month, even as COVID cases multiplied 10 times over. Just 62% of Duval residents are vaccinated, compared with 72% statewide.
