USF College of Public Health

Health experts are encouraging people to get the booster to help prevent another holiday surge, but many people have not answered the call.

Jason Salemi with the USF College of Public Health says most of the new cases are reported in the state's five largest counties.

In Florida, 975 people were hospitalized with COVID, down from 2,418 a month earlier, according to data released Monday. Also, 101 COVID patients were in intensive care, compared with 1,319 on Feb. 1.

Pediatric hospitalizations remain high in Florida. Doctors say extending vaccine eligibility to little ones could help protect them in the future.

In Florida, only half of fully vaccinated nursing home residents have gotten the booster for COVID. When you add unvaccinated residents into the mix, just 41% are boosted.

People typically don't report positive results from at-home tests to health officials, so Florida's case totals are likely higher than reported.

Health experts don't anticipate as many people will die during this wave as did during the delta surge this summer.

USF Health epidemiologist Jason Salemi says omicron seems to be less deadly than delta but cautions Floridians should still take the surge in cases seriously.

In this interview, USF epidemiology professor Jason Salemi discusses where things stand with vaccines and how immunity is categorized at this stage of the pandemic.

On WGCU's Gulf Coast Live, two health experts discuss what’s known about the variant and offer ino about how COVID vaccinations and booster shots work.