Florida coronavirus cases hit 301,810 as state reports more than 10,000 cases
Florida’s Department of Health on Wednesday confirmed 10,181 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the state’s known total to hit 301,810. There were also 112 new deaths announced, bringing the statewide death toll to 4,521.
COVID-19 cases in South Florida
▪ Miami-Dade County reported 2,514 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 27 new deaths, according to the state health department. The county now has 72,317 confirmed cases and 1,202 deaths.
▪ Broward County reported 1,339 additional confirmed cases of the disease and no new deaths. The county now has 34,153 known cases and 464 deaths.
▪ Palm Beach County saw 509 additional confirmed cases and 10 new deaths. The county now has 22,788 confirmed cases and 634 deaths.
▪ Monroe County reported 29 additional cases of the disease and no new deaths. The Florida Keys now have 670 confirmed cases and six deaths.
COVID-19 Hospitalizations in Florida
One of the tools that officials are relying on to determine whether the coronavirus situation 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 snapshot of how many people are severely ill with COVID-19.
On Friday, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration began reporting the number of patients hospitalized statewide with a “primary diagnosis of COVID.” The data, which is updated at least every hour, does not distinguish between the number of COVID-19 patients in hospital intensive care units and those in acute care beds, which require less attention from nurses.
Previously, the state was only providing the total number of hospitalizations in its statewide and county-level data. Miami-Dade was an exception, with hospitals self-reporting a number of key metrics, including hospitalizations, to the county, which has made this data public for several months.
As of 3:16 p.m. Wednesday, there are currently 8,217 COVID-19 patients admitted into hospitals throughout the state, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration dashboard.
Of those, 1,849 are in Miami-Dade, 1,170 are in Broward, 649 are in Palm Beach and 19 are in Monroe County, according to the agency.
Florida’s current hospitalization data does not always match the hospitalization data reported in Miami-Dade’s “New Normal” dashboard. Jennifer Moon, deputy mayor of Miami-Dade told the Miami Herald Friday that there may be a number of reasons why the county’s hospitalization data differs from the state’s.
She said these reasons include the frequency of daily updates, human error and whether the state’s agency is including in its data the patients who visited the emergency room for other urgent medical needs and tested positive for COVID after they are admitted.
On Wednesday, Miami-Dade hospitalizations for COVID-19 complications rose to 2,016, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard. According to Wednesday’s data, 278 people were discharged and 219 people were admitted.
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The state has had a total of 19,334 residents hospitalized for COVID-19 related complications, according to Florida’s COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard.
COVID-19 Testing in Florida
Testing in Florida has seen steady growth since the COVID-19 crisis began.
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 number of daily tests needed varies among experts, but the dean of the University of South Florida’s College of Medicine told the governor that Florida needs to test about 33,000 people every day.
On Wednesday, Florida’s Department of Health reported 80,389 new tests on Tuesday. The positive rate was 16.58% of the total, according to the report. In total, 3,404,892 tests have been conducted.
To date, 2,739,169 people have been tested in Florida. Of the total tested, 301,810 (about 11.02%) have tested positive. The state says there are 2,189 tests with pending results.
The state began adding antigen test results to Florida’s case totals earlier this month. Antigen tests are a new category of tests that detect fragments of proteins found in the virus by testing samples collected by nose swabs. The FDA authorized the first antigen COVID-19 tests in May.
This story was originally published July 15, 2020 at 10:54 AM with the headline "Florida coronavirus cases hit 301,810 as state reports more than 10,000 cases."
