Florida’s known coronavirus total rises past 491,000 as state adds 4,752 cases
Florida’s Department of Health on Monday confirmed 4,752 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the state’s known total to 491,884. There were also 73 Florida resident deaths announced, bringing the statewide resident death toll to 7,157.
Monday’s daily total of newly confirmed cases is the lowest since 3,289 cases were reported on June 23.
Most of the state-run testing sites have been closed since Thursday because of Tropical Storm Isaias. Since test results take at least several days to process, it’s unclear if Monday’s lower total was affected by the state’s storm operations.
The Florida Department of Health did not immediately respond to the Miami Herald’s inquiry on whether the state’s storm operations may have affected Monday’s report of newly confirmed cases.
More than a dozen state and federal testing sites reopened at 8 a.m. Monday in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.
No new non-resident deaths were announced, keeping the non-resident death toll at 122.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Florida
▪ Miami-Dade County reported 954 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 25 new deaths, according to Florida’s Department of Health. The county now has 123,644 confirmed cases and 1,694 deaths.
▪ Broward County reported 556 additional confirmed cases of the disease and three new deaths. The county now has 58,531 known cases and 748 deaths.
▪ Palm Beach County saw 324 additional confirmed cases and 12 new deaths. The county now has 34,550 confirmed cases and 845 deaths.
▪ Monroe County reported 22 additional cases of the disease and no new deaths, according to the health department. The Florida Keys now have 1,379 confirmed cases and 11 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.
Last 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 12:46 p.m. Monday, there were 7,974 COVID-19 patients admitted into hospitals throughout the state, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration dashboard.
Of those, 1,655 were in Miami-Dade, 1,159 in Broward, 526 in Palm Beach and 14 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 is a number of reasons why the county’s hospitalization data might differ 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 1,916 to 1,943, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard. According to Monday’s data, 96 people were discharged and 122 people were admitted.
The state has had a total of 27,366 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.
On Monday, Florida’s Department of Health reported 60,994 new tests on Sunday. The positive rate was 12.70% of the total, according to the report. In total, 4,908,466 tests have been conducted.
To date, 3,758,496 people have been tested in Florida. Of the total tested, 491,884 (about 13.09%) have tested positive. The state says there are 3,228 tests with pending results.
This story was originally published August 3, 2020 at 10:57 AM with the headline "Florida’s known coronavirus total rises past 491,000 as state adds 4,752 cases."
