Coronavirus
Florida sees another coronavirus fatality record of 156 as nearly 14,000 new cases added
Florida’s Department of Health on Thursday confirmed 13,965 new cases of COVID-19, the second highest single-day total recorded in the state since the pandemic began in March. The state now has a total of 315,775 confirmed cases.
There were also 156 new Florida resident deaths announced, bringing the statewide resident death toll to 4,677.
The 156 deaths are the most the health department has announced within a 24-hour period, although it does not necessarily mean that all of the people died in the past 24 hours. Previously, the highest single-day toll was reported on Tuesday with 132 deaths.
There were no new non-resident deaths announced in the state, leaving the non-resident death toll at 105, according to Florida’s COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard.
Florida’s highest single day total of newly confirmed COVID-19 cases was reported on Sunday with 15,300 cases.
COVID-19 cases in South Florida
▪ Miami-Dade County reported 3,108 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 44 new deaths, according to Florida’s Department of Health. The county now has 75,425 confirmed cases and 1,246 deaths.
▪ Broward County reported 1,413 additional confirmed cases of the disease and no new deaths. The county now has 35,566 known cases and 464 deaths.
▪ Palm Beach County saw 923 additional confirmed cases and four new deaths. The county now has 23,711 confirmed cases and 638 deaths.
▪ Monroe County reported 45 additional cases of the disease and no new deaths. The Florida Keys now have 715 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 8:01 p.m. Thursday, there are currently 9,095 COVID-19 patients admitted into hospitals throughout the state, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration dashboard.
Of those, 1,903 are in Miami-Dade, 1,201 are in Broward, 670 are in Palm Beach and 21 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 on 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 Thursday, Miami-Dade hospitalizations for COVID-19 complications rose to another all-time high at 2,067, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard. According to Thursday’s data, 215 people were discharged and 187 people were admitted.
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The state has had a total of 19,825 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 Thursday, Florida’s Department of Health reported 116,311 new tests on Wednesday. The positive rate was 15.42% of the total, according to the report. In total, 3,509,789 tests have been conducted.
To date, 2,819,000 people have been tested in Florida. Of the total tested, 315,775 (about 11.20%) have tested positive. The state says there are 2,163 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 16, 2020 10:54 AM.
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