COVID-19 positivity rate drops in Jacksonville

Jacksonville saw a dramatic decrease in the percentage of positive coronavirus test results, according to Florida Department of Health data released Monday.

The overall numbers of infections were down throughout Northeast Florida mainly due to the closure of multiple COVID-19 test sites due to Hurricane Isaias that plowed up the Atlantic Ocean just off the coast of Florida over the weekend. Jacksonville recorded 165 new cases at the end of Sunday for a total  of 21,830.

Most notable for Duval County, though, was a 5.9% positivity rate for all tests administered. That’s the lowest positive test rate in Jacksonville since June and represents a continuing trend of decreasing positive test rates. In the past week, the average positivity rate of tests being administered in Jacksonville was 7.26%.

That’s a sharp change since mid-July saw some days with about 20% positive test rates.

Jacksonville recorded two new deaths due to the illness for a total of 160 as of Sunday. There were no new hospitalizations for the second day in a row in Jacksonville, holding steady at 640.

St. Johns County is also seeing falling positive test rates. While St. Johns recorded 29 new infections Sunday for a total of 3,362, the positivity rate on tests dropped to 5.7% Sunday from 6.8% Saturday.

St. Johns County has an average positivity rate for coronavirus tests of 7.21% over the past seven days.

St. Johns had no new deaths or hospitalizations Sunday, holding steady at 29 and 177 respectively.

Clay County saw 27 new infections Sunday for a total of 2,935. Clay has seen some variations in the positive test rate in the past week. Sunday’s rate was 6.3% and the county had an average rate of 9.24% over the past seven days.

There were no new deaths in Clay, remaining at 48 Saturday and two new hospitalizations for a total of 196.

Nassau County added 17 new cases to its tally for a total of 1,121. There was one new death due to coronavirus in Nassau for a total of 11 with two new hospitalizations for a sum of 67 Sunday.

Baker County also added 17 new cases for a total of 403 and no new deaths or hospitalizations.

Across the five-county First Coast region, there are now 29,651 total cases of COVID-19, up 265 over Saturday. Another 252 people have died from the illness in Northeast Florida as of Sunday, up three from Saturday.

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Editor’s note on methodology: The Florida Department of Health releases new data every morning around 10:45 a.m. The total number reported in those daily reports include the previous day’s totals as well as the most up to date data as of about 9:30 a.m.

Florida Politics uses the report-over-report increase to document the number of new cases each day because it represents the most up-to-date data available. Some of the more specific data, including positivity rates and demographics, considers a different data set that includes only cases reported the previous day.

This is important to note because the DOH report lists different daily totals than our methodology to show day-over-day trends. Their numbers do not include non-residents who tested positive in the state and they only include single-day data, therefore some data in the DOH report may appear lower than what we report.

Our methodology was established based on careful consideration among our editorial staff to capture both the most recent and accurate trends.