Case rate climbs 23%, to 95.91 per 100,000 residents
Sarasota County’s COVID-19 positivity rate climbed again over the past week, as shown in the latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), but the increase was just below 11%.
The seven-day average as of May 1 put the positivity rate at 12.67%, which the CDC said was up 1.11%, compared to the previous seven-day total. However, on April 24, the rate was 11.43%, averaged over the prior seven days, as The Sarasota News Leader reported in its April 29 issue.
In its weekly update, published on May 5, the CDC continued to classify the community transmission level as “Low” in Sarasota County. Yet, the case rate per 100,000 people was 95.91. That compared to 77.93 per 100,000 people in the April 28 report.
Thus, the case rate has risen approximately 23%, week-over-week.
Further, on May 5, the CDC noted that the number of new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 people was 6.1. The April 28 report put that figure at 5.1. Still, the CDC added on May 5 that the number of inpatient beds in use by individuals with confirmed COVID-19 cases represented 1.2% of the county total. The April 28 figure was 1.1%.
Among other data: For the seven days through May 3, the CDC said, the total number of new county COVID-19 cases for the seven days through that date was 508. The case rate was 117.12 per day, according to the seven-day average. That number was up 22.12% from the prior seven-day total, the CDC pointed out.
Additionally, the CDC data through May 2 showed 44 new cases over the seven days through that date. That was up 116.1% from the figure for the previous seven days, the agency said.
However, the number of staffed Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds was up just 2.5% on May 2, compared to the previous seven-day average.
The highest number of COVID-19 patients receiving care at the two campuses of Sarasota Memorial Hospital (SMH) since April 29 has been 23, the reports show. That peak was noted on May 3. Of those patients, five were in the ICUs in Sarasota and Venice, SMH pointed out.
On April 28, SMH had four COVID patients in its ICUs.
As of May 5, the health care system reported only 15 COVID patients in its Venice and Sarasota facilities, three of whom were in the ICUs.
Additionally, the health care system has reported no new deaths over the past week. The total since the pandemic began in the area in March 2020 remained at 654.
As of May 5, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center reported that the total number of COVID-19 cases in Sarasota County was 91,880. That compared to 96,989 for Manatee County.
Miami-Dade County has the highest count for the state: 1,199,724.
