Florida COVID update: 29,059 cases added to state tally, as 742 more patients hospitalized
Florida reported 29,059 COVID-19 cases and one new death Monday, according to Tuesday’s report to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based on Miami Herald calculations of CDC data.
The Florida Department of Health will most likely add deaths to Monday’s total. The state has done this in the past when it has added cases and deaths to previous days during the pandemic.
In all, Florida has recorded at least 3,965,229 confirmed COVID cases and 62,390 deaths.
In the past seven days, as the omicron version of the virus circulates, the state has added 18 deaths and 26,537 cases per day on average, according to Herald calculations of CDC data. That rolling seven-day case average is the highest it’s been since Aug. 23, when it was at 29,334.
The CDC rates the community transmission for each South Florida county as “substantial.”
COVID deaths in South Florida and Manatee County
The CDC’s Community Profile Report released county-level death data for Florida’s 67 counties.
It is unclear when these newly reported deaths occurred. The Community Profile Report updates Florida’s county tolls and rates about once every seven days, when or after the COVID-19 weekly situation report is published by the Florida Department of Health on Fridays.
As of Monday’s Community Profile Report, Florida had a rate of 290 cumulative deaths per 100,000 people since the start of the pandemic. Two weeks ago, the state had a rate of 289 deaths per 100,000 people.
Here’s where death rates and tolls stand in South Florida and Manatee County, according to the CDC.
▪ Miami-Dade County’s death toll is 9,260, an increase of 26 deaths from Friday’s report. That’s a rate of 341 cumulative deaths per 100,000 people since the beginning of the pandemic.
▪ Broward County’s death toll sits at 4,978, an increase of 12 deaths. That’s a rate of 254 cumulative deaths per 100,000 people since the beginning of the pandemic.
▪ Palm Beach County’s death toll sits at 4,322, an increase of six deaths. That’s a rate of 289 cumulative deaths per 100,000 people since the beginning of the pandemic.
▪ Monroe County’s death toll remains at 99, no increase. The county would be at a death rate of 133 deaths per 100,000 people if its population were that large.
▪ Manatee County’s death toll sits at 1,227, an increase of two. Manatee has a rate of 304 cumulative deaths per 100,000 people since the beginning of the pandemic.
FLORIDA COVID VACCINE RATES
About 13,581,777 eligible Floridians — 63.2% of the state’s population — have completed the two-dose series of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines or have completed Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
VACCINATIONS IN SOUTH FLORIDA AND MANATEE COUNTY
Here’s how many people have been fully vaccinated in South Florida and Manatee County, according to the CDC.
▪ In Miami-Dade County, about 2,181,161 people, or 80.3% of the county’s total population, are fully vaccinated.
▪ In Broward County, about 1,319,135 people are fully vaccinated, or 67.6% of the county’s population.
▪ In Palm Beach County, about 946,592 people are fully vaccinated, or 63.2% of the county’s population.
▪ In Monroe County, about 55,305 people are fully vaccinated, or 74.5% of the county’s population.
▪ In Manatee County, about 237,419 people are fully vaccinated, or 58.9% of the county’s population.
COVID-19 Hospitalizations in Florida
There were 3,148 people hospitalized for COVID-19 in Florida, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Tuesday report. This data is reported from 234 Florida hospitals. That’s 742 more than Monday’s report from 245 Florida hospitals.
COVID-19 patients take up 6.06% of all inpatient beds in the latest report’s hospitals, compared to 4.47% in Monday’s reporting hospitals.
Of the people hospitalized in Florida, 399 were in intensive care unit beds, an increase of 56 from Monday’s report. That represents about 6.70% of the state’s ICU hospital beds, compared to 5.58% the previous day.
Hospitalizations generally increase about two weeks after a spike in infections. New evidence suggests that the highly contagious omicron variant causes less severe illness than previous strains, but public health experts emphasize that if more people get sick with even a mild case of COVID, then the number of those hospitalized is likely to grow, too.
Dr. Marc Napp, Memorial Healthcare System senior vice president and chief medical officer, told the Herald, “This happens to be an extremely infectious disease that’s going to spread across the community very rapidly. There are members of the community who are going to be susceptible.”
Tuesday’s Miami-Dade County report said there were 902 COVID patients in the county’s hospitals on Monday, an increase of 233 from the previous day. Of the 289 new COVID patients, 201 (69.55%) had not been vaccinated. Intensive care patients numbered 93, an increase of 30 from the previous day.
Broward County’s Tuesday report said there were 622 COVID patients in the county’s hospitals, an increase of 95 patients compared to Monday’s report.
This story was originally published December 28, 2021 at 5:15 PM with the headline "Florida COVID update: 29,059 cases added to state tally, as 742 more patients hospitalized."
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