Thought it was gone? COVID is on the rise again in Florida

Cindy Krischer Goodman, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
·4 min read
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A few days after returning from a European cruise, Maria Hernandez began to feel achy, congested and hotter than usual in the South Florida heat.

She took a COVID rapid test at home, and the Miramar resident immediately saw a positive result.

Now, the virus has moved into her chest and she has begun to cough. “I feel rotten,” she said.

Florida is seeing a COVID uptick last experienced after the winter holidays. The increase in the number of cases began immediately after the Fourth of July and has risen each week since, according to national and state data tracking services. Although reported testing levels are relatively low, the positivity rate has jumped to 17.4% from 11% a month ago, according to state health data.

The state’s COVID bump mirrors the national situation. After months of largely slowing COVID-19 trends nationwide, emergency department visits, test positivity, and wastewater levels are up. CBS News reported that weekly COVID-19 hospitalizations have risen by more than 10% across the country, citing new data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“I expected this,” said Aileen Marty, an infectious diseases expert with Florida International University. “We might all be done with the coronavirus but the virus is not done with us. It’s still circulating and some of the variants are very contagious.”

Marty and other infectious disease experts are closely watching how long the newest rise continues and whether COVID has a seasonal pattern — winter surges and summer upticks.

“I don’t think it’s seasonal in the classic way,” Marty said. “I think it’s seasonal because of our behavior. This is one of the hottest summers in the world, and people are indoors where COVID transmits more easily.”

Other factors may play a role in this summer’s rise, too, she said: It has been six months or more since many Floridians were vaccinated or had COVID, so immunity is waning, and summer travel has Floridians criss-crossing the world, jammed on cruise ships and at indoor events where opportunities to spread the virus increase.

Dave Karabag, regional vice president of advertising for the Orlando Sentinel and the South Florida Sun Sentinel, said he and at least four colleagues returned from a conference in Sarasota last week with COVID. His biggest symptom is exhaustion. After sleeping for about 36 hours, he is beginning to get some energy back. Karabag said he last had COVID in 2020. “I had every symptom. This time it is much more manageable.”

Overall, COVID is far less harmful than it once was, and even while rising, the virus is circulating at lower levels than any previous summers during the pandemic. However, COVID-tracking data isn’t as comprehensive as it once was and rapid tests, which are taken most often when people have symptoms, typically don’t get reported to state and federal health authorities.

Wastewater surveillance is considered one of the most accurate measures of COVID activity.

Surveillance by Biobot Analytics in 10 Florida counties, including Miami-Dade and Palm Beach, shows COVID levels in the water have nearly doubled during July in some areas of the state. Overall, Florida’s levels are slightly above the national average.

“Even though nationally the COVID concentration levels are increasing, overall they are three times lower than they were last summer,” said Dr. Cristin Young, an epidemiologist with Biobot Analytics. “COVID hasn’t settled into a seasonal pattern and we don’t know if it’s going to last throughout the summer, so it’s important to keep monitoring the levels.”

The variant now circulating in Florida, wastewater samples show, is a mix of XBB variants, which are highly infectious offshoots of Omicron.

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At MD Now Urgent Care in Florida, regional medical director Dr. T’anjuihsien Marx says COVID symptoms no longer include loss of taste or smell and tend to be more cough, fever and chills. “People know what to watch for now, so they probably are testing at home,” he said. “I am hoping that we get to the point that COVID is more like a cold.”

If you are young and healthy, the rising positivity rates mean you should live normally but keep a mask handy if you are in an indoor space with people who are sick or coughing (like an airplane), Marty says.

She advises seniors to get boosted, and wear masks in crowded indoor spaces.

“Each person’s immune system will react differently to the same thing, so our level of illness will be different,” she said. “There are people spreading the virus with no symptoms. Although it’s harmless for them, it might not be for people they breathe on.”

Most likely, Marty said, the uptick will continue through the rest of the hot summer as Floridians spend more time indoors. “It’s best to be cautious. Unfortunately, this is the type of infection that doesn’t give you lifelong high-level immunity,” she said.

Health authorities are racing to prepare for an updated COVID-19 booster this fall.

Sun Sentinel health reporter Cindy Goodman can be reached at cgoodman@sunsentinel.com.