COVID
Flu cases on the rise around Tampa Bay

Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
The country's worst influenza outbreak in more than a decade has left nearly every state with high or very high levels of flu activity, including Florida.
- Flu cases have now started dipping statewide but are still increasing around Tampa Bay, according to Florida Department of Health data.
Why it matters: This year's caseload underscores how the return to pre-pandemic life has left us "immunologically naïve" and more vulnerable to seasonal respiratory diseases, Axios' Adriel Bettelheim reports.
Push to get new COVID booster comes as Florida braces for flu season

Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios
President Biden just got the updated COVID-19 booster shot, and urged Americans to do the same. But Tampa Bay isn't buying it.
What he's saying: "Now is the time to do it — by Halloween, if you can," Biden said Tuesday. "That's the best time. And that way you can be protected for the holidays."
Thousands of Floridians are affected by long COVID
Nearly a third of Americans who know they've had COVID say they've also experienced the often disabling aftereffects known as long COVID, according to recent CDC data.
Driving the news: The rate of those reporting long COVID symptoms was highest in West Virginia (49%), compared with the state with the lowest rate of people reporting long COVID: Vermont (22%), Axios' Tina Reed writes.
Florida politics prove deadly when it comes to COVID


COVID is killing more people per 100,000 in red states than in blue states, Axios' Will Chase and Caitlin Owens report.
Why it matters: "The COVID-19 pandemic removed any doubt that state policies can affect health outcomes," Virginia Commonwealth University professor Steven Woolf recently argued in JAMA.
Florida surgeon general advises against kids' COVID vaccine

Screenshot: Governor Ron DeSantis/YouTube
Florida is about to be the first state to recommend healthy children ages 5-17 not get vaccinated against COVID-19.
What's happening: Florida surgeon general Dr. Joseph Ladapo made the announcement at the end of a roundtable — titled "The Curtain Close on COVID Theater" — hosted Monday by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Children's vaccinations in Florida behind national rate
Florida is doing slightly better than most other Southern states when it comes to vaccinating young kids against COVID-19.
COVID still worries Americans
😬 We're worried about Omicron.
Driving the news: Per a new public opinion survey from the University of South Florida, nearly 75% of Americans are "very concerned" or "somewhat concerned" about emerging variants.
Florida's stockpiled COVID tests can be used

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried speaks in Nov. Photo: Lynne Sladky/AP
The FDA extended the expiration date on one million COVID-19 test kits that have become a political football in recent weeks, per the Times/Herald.

Get a free daily digest of the most important news in your backyard with Axios Tampa Bay.