Weekly COVID Update 8/21: FAU reports 49 on-campus cases, Fla. COVID hospitalizations reach 17,000

Updates from Aug. 13 through Aug. 21 regarding COVID-19 at FAU, Palm Beach County, and Florida.

FAU COVID-19 safety flyer. Courtesy of FAU.

Kendall Little, Managing Editor
August 21, 2021

This week, Florida’s COVID-19 hospitalizations reached 17,000. Cases on FAU campuses are surging as move-in week continues. 

FAU

The university currently has 49 active COVID-19 cases across three campuses as of Aug. 21. 89.8% of the cases were documented at the Boca Raton campus. Documentation of cases is increasing frequently due to the mandatory COVID-19 tests before move-in.

Move-in began on Aug. 17 and will end on Aug. 22. Students are required to receive a COVID-19 test on campus before they begin moving in. For students on the Boca Raton campus, tests will be administered in Garage II. Students on the Jupiter campus will be tested in Lot 74. 

FAU President John Kelly is strongly recommending students get vaccinated to combat COVID-19. On Aug. 16, university representatives announced that FAU is looking to make vaccines available on campus this semester. 

The UP reached out to university representatives for more information regarding on-campus vaccinations, but has not heard back as of Aug. 21.

PALM BEACH COUNTY

Palm Beach County officials declared a local state of emergency on Aug. 17 due to COVID-19 concerns. 

“Officials said the state of emergency may allow Palm Beach County to bring in additional medical personnel from other parts of the state and country, and will also direct the private health care system to transmit real-time data regarding COVID-19 hospital bed availability,” according to WPTV.

The county is documenting an average of 1,328 new COVID-19 cases per day, according to the New York Times.

FLORIDA

The state of Florida is documenting an average of 21,534 new COVID-19 cases per day, according to the New York Times. 

Gov. Ron DeSantis refused to backtrack on his mask mandate ban. On  Aug. 20, the Sun-Sentinel reported that two school districts in Florida, Alachua and Broward, would be losing state funding if they did not reverse their mask mandates in 48 hours.

According to the Miami Herald, Florida’s COVID hospitalizations exceed 17,000 and take up more than half of the state’s ICU beds.