Manatee County now a high-risk community for COVID, CDC says. Masks recommended

Manatee County is now at a high “community level” of COVID-19 as new cases have continued to rise in recent weeks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week.

As of Thursday, about 7.5% of U.S. counties, districts or territories had high COVID-19 community levels. Sarasota, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties have been at high levels, along with significant portions of Central and South Florida.

The COVID-19 “community level” is a metric created by CDC earlier this year to help people gauge the threat of COVID-19 in their area and take appropriate safety measures in response.

One big takeaway: People who live in areas with high community levels should consider masking indoors while in public, the CDC says.

To determine an area’s risk level, the CDC factors in new cases, hospital admissions and availability of local hospital beds.

“With current high levels of vaccination and high levels of population immunity from both vaccination and infections, the risk of medically significant disease, hospitalization, and death from COVID-19 is greatly reduced for most people,” the CDC’s website says. “At the same time, we know that some people and communities, such as our oldest citizens, people who are immunocompromised, and people with disabilities, are at higher risk for serious illness and face challenging decisions navigating a world with COVID-19.”

Community level is a separate measure from the transmission level of COVID-19, to better help people gauge their risk in a given area. Transmission levels are currently high throughout most of Florida, including in Manatee and Sarasota counties.

As of Saturday, patients with COVID-19 were occupying about 5% of inpatient beds and 2% of ICU beds in Manatee County, CDC data shows. Hospitalizations decreased over the last week but remained elevated compared to May, April and most of March.

Positivity rates, another measure of COVID-19’s prevalence, have been on a steady increase in Manatee County since the beginning of April, when they were around 3%. As of Friday, they are around 22%, the CDC says.

And the county has been averaging about 166 new cases a day — the highest levels since February — according to the CDC’s seven-day rolling case average. Sarasota County has seen similar upward trends.

The CDC stresses that with current levels of vaccination and immunity, “the risk of medically significant disease, hospitalization and death from COVID-19 is greatly reduced for most people.”

However, vulnerable groups, including the elderly and immunocompromised remain at higher risk for severe infections.

In areas with high community levels of COVID-19, the CDC recommends the following safety measures:

• Wear masks indoors in public places and on public transportation
• Stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccines
• Get tested if you have symptoms of COVID-19
• Consider taking further safety measures if you are at high risk for severe illness.

This story was originally published June 8, 2022 at 5:50 AM.