New COVID-19 cases in Manatee County up for the seventh week in row

The number of new cases reported this week was almost 10 times higher than in late March.

The weekly number of new COVID-19 cases in Manatee County has gone up for the seventh straight week, according to a Bradenton Journal analysis of Florida Department of Health data.

There were 897 new cases reported during the week of May 13-19.

The numbers remain a small fraction of what they were during the omicron surge late last year and in early 2022. But the increased case counts in recent weeks come in the wake some public testing sites being shuttered. At-home tests are more readily available but the results of those don’t have to be reported to health officials — meaning the recent increases in new cases could be higher than what the state data show.

The health department is reporting new case counts only every two weeks — and then only for the week in which they are reported. The total case count includes numbers for the missing weeks so with some basic arithmetic, it is possible to fill in the gaps.

FDOH reported Friday that Manatee County’s has seen total of 98,496 coronavirus infections since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. As of two weeks ago, there were 96,960 — a difference of 1,536. That means there were 639 new cases during the week of May 6-12 that were unreported by the state, and 897 new cases in the subsequent week that were reported.

There were 91 new cases reported in the last week of March, about a tenth of the cases reported this week.

Where to get tested in Manatee County

The testing site at the convention center was closed earlier this year, but you can still get tested in downtown Bradenton at the parking lot at at 1301 Eighth Ave. W. The site is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week. Information about other testing locations is available here.

You can reach the writer at Marc.R.Masferrer@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @mrmasferrer. You can also like The Bradenton Journal on Facebook.