FAU

Cases are down at the university, with 13 active cases reported as of Oct. 21. Nine of the positive cases are students and four are employees. The university had 20 cases on Oct. 14. All active cases are on the Boca Raton campus. There are 461 cumulative cases for the Fall 2021 semester.

The $150 vaccine incentive program ends in nine days, on Oct. 31. There are currently no plans to have a similar incentive after the current incentive program ends.

Palm Beach County

Palm Beach County is averaging 197 cases per day, a 42% decrease over the previous two weeks, according to New York Times data. 3,933 PBC residents have died from the coronavirus since the pandemic began.

Vaccinations are up for the fourth straight week, with 60% of PBC county residents fully vaccinated as of Oct. 21. On Oct. 14, 59% of PBC residents were fully vaccinated.

Florida

The state remains in the “very high risk” category, but vaccinations have slightly increased after stagnating, with 59% of Floridians being fully vaccinated as of Oct. 21. The number had been stuck at 58% since Oct. 8.

Florida is averaging 2,366 cases per day, a 41% decrease from the previous two weeks. Florida is averaging 120 deaths per day, with 58,143 people passing away from COVID-19 since the pandemic began in March 2020.

During a press conference on Thursday, Oct. 21, Florida’s new surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo questioned the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines and said that he was against all mandates in the state of Florida.

According to WFLA, the NBC News station in Tampa, Ladapo “invoked anecdotal examples and unsubstantiated conspiracy theories to argue against the vaccines.”

6.76 billion doses of coronavirus vaccines have been administered worldwide. Medical professionals say the vaccines are safe and effective, and there have been few serious side effects because of the vaccines.