OCALA, Fla.—The first doses of COVID-19 vaccine have arrived in Florida and have begun to be used in the state. In Marion County, that means some long-term care staff and residents may soon be vaccinated.

The state of Florida is prioritizing the most at-risk populations to receive the initial round of available vaccines. This includes residents and staff of long-term care facilities and high-risk frontline health care workers. Following the initial distributions to these most at-risk groups, the state will work to provide vaccine to additional priority groups, including first responders. Updates on timeline for the general public will be provided as those plans become available. The state is committed to providing the vaccine to each priority group and to the general public as quickly as possible; however, much of these plans is dependent on vaccine supply.

The Department of Health is working closely with the federal government to plan for the distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine. As the department gathers more information from the federal government on vaccine availability and distribution, this plan will continue to be updated.

In the initial planned distribution of 179,400 doses of Pfizer vaccine, 97,500 doses will be distributed amongst the five Florida pilot hospitals. 60,450 doses will be sent to the Federal Pharmacy Program with CVS and Walgreens for long-term care facility residents and staff. 21,450 doses will go directly to the Florida Department of Health to administer by strike teams in long term care facilities in Pinellas and Broward counties.

Marion cases continuing to increase

Marion County is reporting 14,938 cumulative cases of COVID-19 as of this afternoon. This is an increase of 89 cases from yesterday (Dec. 13). Of Marion COVID-19 tests from Dec. 13, 9.09% were positive. The daily positivity rate for all new COVID-19 tests in Florida on Dec. 13 was 8.34%.

Marion’s cases and daily positivity rates continue to trend high. From COVID-19 cases reported over the past 7 days (Dec. 8 to Dec. 14), Marion saw an average of:

• 138 new cases reported per day
• 9.8% daily positivity rate
• 3 COVID-19 related deaths reported per day

In comparison, from Nov. 1 to Nov. 30, Marion saw an average of:

• 70.6 new cases reported per day
• 7.9% daily positivity rate
• 1 COVID-19 related death reported per day

From cases reported Oct. 1 to Oct. 31, Marion saw an average of:

• 37.2 new cases reported per day
• 4.6% daily positivity rate
• 1.9 COVID-19 related deaths reported per day