The staff at Lakeland Regional Health is anxiously waiting to see if the past week’s retreat from record high numbers of COVID-19 patients signals a peak in the current surge or just a momentary blip, a hospital vice president told city commissioners this morning. More
Polk County Public Schools’ new COVID-19 dashboard shows that 11,163 students and 323 staff have had to quarantine during the last two weeks. Quarantined students without access to digital devices and wifi are having difficulty keeping up with classwork, the head of the teachers’ union tells News Channel 8. | View the dashboard More
This week’s COVID-19 update from the Florida Department of Health yields hope that the toll of the delta variant may have peaked in Polk County and Florida. During the last week, 6,174 new infections were reported in Polk, a solid drop from last week’s record 7,510 new cases. The testing positivity rate continued its slide for a second week, falling below 20% for the first time in five weeks.
With its record COVID-19 patient load, Lakeland Regional Health has brought in a mobile refrigerator cooler as a contingency to expand its morgue capacity, Fox 13 News reports. On Monday, the hospital reported 442 patients with COVID, nearly two-and-a-half times its peak of 180 during the winter surge. LRH has not disclosed how many COVID-related deaths have occurred there. Elsewhere, Advent Health says it has 10 mobile coolers at its Central Florida hospitals, and Sarasota Memorial has also added extra capacity. More
A preliminary report of COVID-19 cases in Polk public schools released Friday shows that 1,170 students and 297 staff have been reported as positive for the virus since Aug. 2. In addition, 8,228 students and 223 staff have quarantined after exposure to infected individuals. More
Polk County added 7,510 new COVID-19 cases this week, setting a new record for a fifth week in a row, according to the weekly update from the Florida Department of Health. The average positivity rate of tests in Polk dipped to 23.2% this week from last week’s record of 28.9%, but still significantly above the 5% rate desired by public health officials.
Unlike neighbors in Orlando and three Tampa Bay area counties, Lakeland residents don’t need to worry about COVID-19 treatments affecting municipal water supplies or the taste of drinking water. More
Which face masks and techniques for wearing them offer the best protection against spreading COVID-19? With more people wearing masks again as infections surge, LkldNow asked local public health officials about best practices. More
Masks remain optional in Polk public schools. Polk School Board members heard passionate debate from both sides of the mask debate on Tuesday, but did not vote on the issue. Vice Chair Kay Fields tried to make a motion for an emergency mask mandate, but Chair Lori Cunningham ended the meeting without calling for a second, The Ledger reported. Earlier in the meeting, Superintendent Frederick Heid said a new COVID-19 dashboard with real-time data is coming to the school district’s web site; the current dashboard has been criticized for lags in updating data.
