Florida tops 1,000 new COVID-19 cases for fourth day in a row as more people are tested
Florida’s Department of Health on Saturday morning confirmed 1,270 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the state’s total to 62,758 confirmed cases. There were also 28 new deaths announced, raising the statewide toll to 2,688.
This is the fourth day this week that the state’s daily total of newly confirmed cases surpassed 1,000. On Thursday, the state recorded 1,413 additional cases, the highest daily count since Florida’s Department of Health began providing daily updates on the novel coronavirus in March. Friday saw 1,305 new cases.
While the state has seen its biggest daily gain in six weeks the past few days, the percentage of positive COVID-19 tests out of those reported in a single day has declined over the same time period, as the state provides testing to more people.
How many confirmed COVID-19 cases are in South Florida?
Less than half of the new cases and new deaths were in South Florida:
▪ Miami-Dade County reported 243 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19, pushing the county’s total to 19,299 confirmed cases. The median age is 49. There were also five new deaths reported, bringing the county’s toll to 765, the highest in the state.
▪ Broward County reported 118 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and seven new deaths. The county’s confirmed total is now at 7,690 with a median age of 49 and 334 deaths.
▪ Palm Beach County saw 215 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 with a median age of 47 and three new deaths. The county’s known total is now at 7,074 with 370 deaths.
▪ Monroe County did not report any additional cases of COVID-19 and no new deaths. The Florida Keys now have 110 known cases with a median age of 55 and four deaths.
Here’s a breakdown on what you need to know:
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Florida
In addition to Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, the deaths of 28 Florida residents who tested positive for COVID-19 in the Saturday figures have been reported in Collier, Duval, Hendry, Hillsborough, Lee, Orange, Polk and Washington counties, according to the health department.
More than half of the state’s known COVID-19 cases — 34,173 — are in South Florida’s four counties: Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe. Miami-Dade continues to lead the state with the most confirmed cases and deaths. It has 19,299 known cases and 765 deaths.
One of the tools officials are relying on to determine if the novel coronavirus is improving in the state is hospitalization data. Unlike testing, which might be limited or take days to report results, hospitalizations can help give officials a real-time visual of how many people are severely ill with COVID-19.
The health department says it doesn’t “have a figure” to reflect the number of people currently hospitalized and only provides the total number of hospitalizations in its statewide and county-level data.
On Saturday, 97 hospitalizations were added, raising the statewide total count to 10,891.
Hospitals in Miami-Dade are self-reporting a number of key metrics, including hospitalizations, to the county. Some provide updates every day; others don’t.
According to the most recent figures, as of Thursday, 98 people were discharged and 57 people were admitted to Miami-Dade hospitals, bringing the total number of hospitalizations for COVID-19 complications to 580, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard data.
Scientists are also still working to learn more about the virus, including how many people in the community are infected with the disease and have mild or no symptoms, which can make it difficult to determine what percentage of the cases hospitalizations represent.
COVID-19 testing in Florida
Testing in Florida has seen steady growth since the COVID-19 crisis began and has started to see a steady decline in the percentage of people testing positive, a key indicator experts rely on to determine whether the pandemic is improving or worsening.
Testing, like hospitalizations, helps officials determine the virus’ progress and plays a role in deciding whether it is safe to lift stay-at-home orders and loosen restrictions.
The recommended numbers of daily tests needed vary by experts, but the dean of the University of South Florida’s College of Medicine told the governor Florida needs to test about 33,000 people every day. The state has hit or surpassed the recommended mark a few times but is typically several thousand under.
Florida’s Department of Health reported 39,241 new tests in Saturday’s daily COVID-19 update. In total, the state has done 1,175,106 tests. Of the total tested, 62,758 or about 5.3% have tested positive for the disease.
Health experts have previously told the Miami Herald that they were concerned the number of pending COVID-19 tests listed by the state is an undercount because Florida reports only the number of Floridians waiting to get test results from state labs, not private ones — and private labs are completing more than 90% of state tests.
Previously, it has taken as long as two weeks for the results of pending tests from private labs to be added into the state’s official count, making it difficult for officials to project the size and scale of the pandemic in the state. It’s unclear how quickly results are currently being sent to the state from private labs.
This story was originally published June 6, 2020 at 12:04 PM with the headline "Florida tops 1,000 new COVID-19 cases for fourth day in a row as more people are tested."
