It includes antigen tests. As I understand it the difference is that the antigen test detects component proteins from the virus, while the PCR test detects the virus’s complete genetic markers. Florida is specifically excluding post-COVID antibody tests, though I can’t find a specific explanation why.
Also, the link you provided is a state report that’s a day newer than the one I referenced for my earlier numbers. It shows positive rates of 13.62% and 11.25% (excludes repeat subjects), but there were also 124,000 tests reported for 7/11, so it would be exceptionally bad if completing half again the number of tests as the previous record didn’t drop the number some.
I stand by this large number of results being in part a dump of tests collected before or on the Independence Day weekend. We haven’t added testing sites or capacity locally, and the one no-questions-asked site in Lee county is still capped at 1000 tests per day. While Lee county isn’t representative of all of Florida, we are 7th in population so we’re more like the urban centers that are driving the numbers than not.
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I’m sorry… I don’t remember the exact number… I was using 10% as an example and sharing that they were trying to put a positive spin on a trend. The trend is malleable though.
Miami Dade, Broward and Palm Counties have been and still are about half of Florida’s cases.
My hospital doesn’t send many covid tests out now that we run them in house, but we have been notified by Quest labs that the turn around time has now been INCREASED to about 8 days now. The reason is because they are just getting slammed by the amount of tests being ordered right now from the southern states and can’t keep up (our quest lab in MA).
I suspect this will continue to be a problem for quite sometime.
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I just heard from a friend who works at a local hospital that they are having the same problem with delayed test results, only she referenced tests from California and Arizona clogging the pipeline.
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That is my thing when I look at the state numbers… Those areas do not concern me nor impact my decision at all. However, they do impact the media coverage and perception and it is hard to get a read without it.
Orange Co is not low, but how bad is it there and in the surrounding counties? That is what you need to try to determine IMO and base your decision on that.
I am not going to the STATE of Florida… I am going to a small part of that state and will have very little contact outside of the WDW property and no contacts outside of the airport and WDW. To me, this is different than going on a trip through the state.
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Originally, we had planned to arrive and run into Orlando to Publix, or perhaps get some fast food to save money in the parks…but due to the rising numbers, we plan to just stay entirely in the bubble now as a precaution.
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Stop saying things I agree with. I’ve broken my “no liking Ryan’s posts” rule twice in the last minute. It’s very unsettling.
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My apologies. I will try harder.
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Yep, that is our plan completely.
Arrive at airport… Pick up luggage (part that may worry me the most, will send family to somewhere out of the way to wait)… Head directly to MEx
Arrive at FT. WILDERNESS, stay on property or in parks the whole week.
Return to airport via MEx and get back on plane.
Hard to even call that going to Orlando…
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You know, that’s something that I never even considered about Disney removing the luggage service from Magical Express. Now people will have to walk across the terminal to luggage claim, wait for their bags, then walk across the terminal again to get to the ME desk. I know in reality it’s not super far, but since the airport has been the real weak spot in compliance and safety, seems counter productive for keeping the parks safe.
I may switch to all carry on luggage if it’s not back by November. Thank God for SWs generous carry on allowance.
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same. I originally was going to fly into tampa due to cheaper flights, rent a car then hit publix, shop and then go to the bubble. Now i’ve switched my flight to orlando, and i’m going to get grocery delivery instead.
I was contemplating a luggage check just to make it easier on myself but now its a hard pass. I’ll be carrying on and probably just opt to do laundry during the week instead of bring more.
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For those of you driving to Orlando, let me share my experience taking an unexpected 1,500 mile trip a couple of weeks ago to help my wife’s mother in an assisted living center. We’ve been making this trip for 30 years now, so I know every rest stop, gas station and bump in the road along the way. BUT this was also the 1st post-COVID highway trip we’ve taken and everything about the driving was uncomfortably different this time.
Traffic was heavy, and it was the middle of the week. People were speeding … a lot! Truckers especially. While some wore face masks, almost no one social distanced at any gas station we visited. I even stepped away from the cash register once and waited when folks crowded around me to buy their stuff. If I ever drive on the highway again, I will use my bank’s preloaded cash card and pay at the pump. (I stopped using my credit card at the pump years ago due to skimmers). Some state rest stops were crowded, some were vacant. It seemed like no one wore masks at them. We used the rest rooms at McDonald’s a couple of times as their restaurants were open but had no dine in service. Each time we were the only people in the store. Obviously we packed lots of food and water to use while driving. Thank goodness. Any other meal was drive thru.
I don’t know how typical this experience is these days, but my advice is to plan for the unexpected and be overly prepared.
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This is exactly my plan. I’m not waiting around a crowded luggage carousel. And the only person touching my luggage is me.
I want to get out of the airport as soon as possible.
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If it was just me, or just adults, I don’t think I’d mind so much. But doing this with a kid (in a wheelchair no less) is making me anxious just thinking about it. 4-6 carry-ons split between 2 adults, and one will have to push the chair…Ugh.
The percent positive is a pretty important number now, because it indicates whether they’re doing enough testing to actually track the scope of the outbreak and identify all of those infected. Once it gets much above 3% of tests coming back positive I think is when they start to worry that not enough people are being tested. It was in the mid-to-high teens for a bit, which meant they really needed to be doing a lot more testing and tracking to identify who needed to be tested.
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It’s still high but coming down
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Ugh, that sounds like a real issue, but also one that others must have had before now. I wonder if there’s some sort of luggage rack you can add on to the chair?