WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Palm Beach County's top health official on Tuesday said she expects the level of COVID-19 transmission in the community to drop from a "high" to "substantial" level in early March.
In a short presentation to county commissioners, Dr. Alina Alonso, the director of the Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County, said local coronavirus cases continue to trend downward.
During the week of Jan. 28 to Feb. 3, Palm Beach County averaged 389 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people, a decrease of about 200 cases per 100,000 people from the week before.
The county's COVID-19 positivity rate during that week was 15.1%.
Those numbers continue to put Palm Beach County — like most of Florida — in a "high" level of community transmission.
"Still high transmission, people need to be careful," Alonso said Tuesday. "If we continue going down the way it's going — you can see it's going down by about 200 or so — we should be there into March. At least to substantial. Then we'll drop to moderate."
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The health director predicts it will be at least two or three more weeks before Palm Beach County gets below 100 new cases per 100,000 people, which will put the county in a "substantial" level of community transmission.
Alonso said that during the week of Jan. 28 to Feb. 3, Palm Beach County tallied its lowest number of weekly COVID-19 vaccinations to date at 1,403. 76% of people in the county ages five and older have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
"We have been not busy the way we were before, but we have definitely continued to vaccinate," Alonso said. "We still have a long ways to go before we get a little more vaccination for a little more protection."
For a complete list of COVID-19 vaccination sites in Palm Beach County, click here.