Kelly Hayes
Both Hillsborough and Pinellas counties reported a significant drop in COVID-19 cases after seeing a surge of cases on Friday, according to Florida Department of Health data released Monday.
Hillsborough County confirmed 659 cases over the weekend — 435 on Saturday and 224 on Sunday. The total number of weekend cases is still less than that seen on Friday, which had 898 reported cases alone.
Hillsborough also surpassed 100,000 cases on Friday, and has now confirmed 100,990 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.
In Pinellas, a total of 502 cases were reported over the weekend, including 264 on Saturday and 238 on Sunday. On Friday, the county saw 617 cases. The toll of cases since the start of the pandemic in Pinellas sits at 59,716.
Hillsborough County also saw 26 new deaths since Saturday, while Pinellas added 15. So far, Hillsborough has reported 1,319 deaths due to COVID-19, and Pinellas has seen 1,304.
Pinellas reported 17 additional hospitalizations in the latest report, and Hillsborough confirmed 13.
As far as each county’s positivity rate, both seem to be doing better than in previous weeks.
Hillsborough County reported a positivity rate at 7.71% on Sunday, keeping in line with the past couple days, and down from Thursday’s 12.10% outlier.
Pinellas did see a bit of a spike in positivity on Sunday, when it reported a rate of 8.63%. On Saturday, the county reported a rate of 3.95%.
Both counties are working to vaccinate their seniors and health care workers. So far, Pinellas has vaccinated 75,625 individuals, 15,806 of whom have completed their second dose, and Hillsborough has vaccinated 77,469 people, 20,264 of whom have completed the series.
