Florida passes 500,000 mark as the state adds more than 5,400 new coronavirus cases
Florida’s Department of Health on Wednesday confirmed 5,409 additional cases of COVID-19, pushing the state’s known total past 500,000. The state now has 502,739 confirmed cases.
There were also 225 Florida resident deaths announced, bringing the statewide resident death toll to 7,627. There were no new nonresident deaths, leaving the nonresident death toll at 124.
Wednesday’s daily total of newly confirmed cases is the fourth consecutive day Florida has reported fewer than 8,000 new cases. Testing has also dropped in the past three days.
From July 21 through Aug. 1, there were an average of 97,000 people tested a day. From Aug. 2 through Aug. 4, there have been an average of 58,000 people tested a day. This excludes retests.
Florida’s Department of Health has not responded to the Miami Herald’s inquiry as to whether the reported testing results were affected by the state-run testing site closures caused by Tropical Storm Isaias.
A three-day rolling average of new daily cases, which helps smooth out day-to-day dips and spikes, shows that Florida has seen a slight decrease in newly confirmed cases in the past two weeks.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Florida
▪ Miami-Dade County reported 1,190 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 51 new deaths, according to Florida’s Department of Health. The county now has 125,949 confirmed cases and 1,775 deaths.
▪ Broward County reported 401 additional confirmed cases of the disease and 18 new deaths. The county now has a known total of 59,354 cases and 783 deaths.
▪ Palm Beach County saw 354 additional confirmed cases and 21 new deaths. The county now has 35,283 confirmed cases and 882 deaths.
▪ Monroe County reported 15 additional cases of the disease, according to the health department. The Florida Keys now have 1,404 confirmed cases and 13 deaths.
COVID-19 hospitalizations in Florida
One of the tools that officials rely 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 5 p.m. Wednesday, there were 7,615 COVID-19 patients admitted into hospitals throughout the state, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration dashboard.
Of those, 1,670 were in Miami-Dade, 1,072 in Broward, 485 in Palm Beach and 13 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. Miami-Dade Deputy Mayor Jennifer Moon previously told the Miami Herald that there are a number of reasons the county’s hospitalization data might differ from the state’s.
She said they 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 decreased from 1,936 to 1,863, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard. According to Wednesday’s data, 233 people were discharged and 143 people were admitted.
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The state has had a total of 27,952 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 Wednesday, Florida’s Department of Health reported the results of 57,272 new tests on Tuesday. The positive rate was 13.96% of the total, according to the report. In total, 5,004,570 tests have been conducted.
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To date, 3,820,683 people have been tested in Florida. Of the total tested, 502,739 (13.16%) have tested positive. The state says there are 3,277 tests with pending results.
Miami Herald staff writer Daniel Chang contributed to this report.
This story was originally published August 5, 2020 at 11:32 AM with the headline "Florida passes 500,000 mark as the state adds more than 5,400 new coronavirus cases."
