Florida adds 8,892 new coronavirus cases, lowest in weeks, as state total hits 432,000
Florida’s Department of Health on Monday confirmed 8,892 additional cases of COVID-19, the lowest single-day total reported in weeks. The state’s known total is now at 432,747.
Monday’s total of newly confirmed cases is the lowest the state has seen since 7,347 cases were confirmed on July 7.
There were also 77 new Florida resident deaths announced on Monday, increasing the statewide resident death toll to 5,931. No new non-resident deaths were announced, keeping the non-resident death toll at 118.
COVID-19 cases in South Florida
▪ Miami-Dade County reported 2,560 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 16 new deaths, according to Florida’s Department of Health. The county now has 107,315 confirmed cases and 1,404 deaths.
▪ Broward County reported 1,434 additional confirmed cases of the disease and two new deaths. The county now has 50,784 known cases and 607 deaths.
▪ Palm Beach County saw 633 additional confirmed cases and three new deaths. The county now has 30,958 confirmed cases and 758 deaths.
▪ Monroe County reported 19 additional cases of the disease and no new deaths. The Florida Keys now have 1,145 confirmed cases and six deaths.
Here’s a breakdown on what you need to know:
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.
Earlier this month, 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 p.m. Monday, there were 9,098 COVID-19 patients admitted into hospitals throughout the state, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration dashboard.
Of those, 1,965 were in Miami-Dade, 1,276 in Broward, 619 in Palm Beach and 16 in Monroe counties, 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, previously told the Miami Herald 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 Monday, Miami-Dade hospitalizations for COVID-19 complications rose from 2,188 to 2,241, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard. According to Monday’s data, 149 people were discharged and 151 people were admitted.
The state has had a total of 24,332 Florida 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 Monday, Florida’s Department of Health reported 88,814 new tests on Sunday. The positive rate was 15.10% of the total, according to the report. In total, 4,411,284 tests have been conducted.
To date, 3,436,270 people have been tested in Florida. Of the total tested, 432,747 (about 12.59%) have tested positive. The state says there are 2,902 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 27, 2020 at 10:51 AM.
