Palm Beach County COVID-19 Update July 22

COVID-19 case numbers in Florida and Palm Beach County continue to increase. There are 379,619 positive cases of COVID-19 in Florida. In Palm Beach County, there are now 27,506 positive cases.

Palm Beach County officials put in place a mandatory mask effect in an effort to combat the growing number of cases. And starting yesterday, they began mailing face masks to each household throughout the county.

Yet, despite these measures being taken, the number of cases still increases with each day. On July 19, there were 648 new cases in the county. On July 20, there were 525 new cases and 547 on July 21.

Many are now concerned with the limited capacity local hospitals have to handle this new wave of cases. The rate of hospitalization for Palm Beach County remains at 9% with 2,336 hospitalizations total.

According to CNN, a new study published in the journal Public Library of Science Medicine says that “three simple behaviors could stop most COVID-19 outbreaks, even without a vaccine or additional treatments.”

These three behaviors are the same that have been reiterated throughout the course of the pandemic. Wash your hands regularly, wear a mask and keep distance from others.

With Palm Beach County continuing to reopen, these measures are shown as paramount to the limiting of the growing wave.

The positivity rate is averaging above 10% overall. County commissioners stated this was the threshold that, if crossed, would warrant further action and likely spurred the mask mandate.

On July 19, the positivity rate for Palm Beach County was 13.3%. On July 20 it was 13.0% and on July 21 it was 8.7%.