Janelle Irwin Taylor
Hillsborough County saw another uptick in new COVID-19 cases Tuesday, adding 521 new cases from Tuesday morning to Wednesday morning, according to Florida Department of Health data released Wednesday. Tuesday’s report saw 456 new cases, more than double the number of new cases reported Monday.
Hillsborough has now tallied 59,270 cases since the onset of the pandemic.
The county’s positivity rate, meanwhile, remains high, but dropped slightly from the day prior. Of the 5,263 tests results returned Tuesday, 8.82% of them were positive, up from Monday’s positivity rate oof 9.01%, which was revised upward from the original 8.99%.
The county also confirmed five additional deaths due to COVID-19 Tuesday, bringing Hillsborough’s death toll to 938.
Pinellas County continues to show more promising signs related to the pandemic than its neighbor.
There, 247 new cases were tallied from Tuesday morning to Wednesday morning, bringing the total pandemic count to 33,493. The previous report from Tuesday showed just 188 new cases, down from 250 cases in Monday’s report.
And the county’s positivity rate remains only slightly above 5%, the threshold some health officials look for as a sign more restrictions are needed. Tuesday’s positivity rate was 5.93%, down from 6.31% on Tuesday. The county’s seven-day average is 5.71%.
Pinellas did not add any more fatalities to its death toll, which remains at 911.
