Last week ended with almost 13,000 new COVID-19 cases in Florida

DORAL, FL – The first case of the omicron COVID-19 variant was found at a hospital in Miami-Dade at the end of last week, while the state experienced a rise of new COVID-19 cases.

Over the course of last week, Florida added 12,984 new cases of coronavirus for a total of 3,710,507 positive cases according to the latest data.

In addition, the state’s COVID-19 death toll now stands at 62,026, up 325 from the previous week and the positivity rate for new cases was 2.6%, .1% higher than the previous week, but the same as the week before that.

As far as bed capacity in South Florida goes, it is known this is not a current issue which doesn’t mean people should put their guard down.

“News that the first official case of Omicron has been detected in Miami-Dade County is a frustrating reminder that this pandemic is not over, and we must continue to take key measures to protect ourselves and our loved ones during the holiday season,” posted Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava in a tweet during the weekend.

The reasons behind the new COVID-19 cases are related with the holidays since during this time of the year people travel and get together more. According to experts, the latest surge was fueled by the Thanksgiving Day celebrations.

But despite this scenario, vaccinations rates are on good track. The Health Department reported 122,513 more Floridians were vaccinated in the week ending Thursday for a total of 14,540,602 people vaccinated. Overall, 70% of Florida’s population over the age of five has received at least one dose of vaccine.

However, the country is still behind on booster shots that are said to protect against the COVID-19 omicron variant. The most recent data shows roughly 50 million Americans have gotten a booster while more than 200 million Americans are vaccinated, which represents only about 60 percent of the population.

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