COVID-19 numbers rise as Florida adds 7,686 cases and 180 deaths. Total now over 8,000
Florida’s Department of Health on Friday confirmed 7,686 additional cases of COVID-19, pushing the state’s known total to 518,075. There were also 180 Florida resident deaths announced, bringing the statewide resident death toll to 7,927.
There were no new non-resident deaths announced, leaving the non-resident death toll at 124. As such, Florida’s total death toll now rises to 8,051.
Florida has seen a slight decrease in newly confirmed cases in the past two weeks.
Friday’s daily total of newly confirmed cases is also the sixth consecutive day Florida has reported fewer than 8,000 new cases. Testing also dropped from Aug. 2 to Aug. 4.
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.
It is unclear whether the reported testing results were affected by the state-run testing site closures caused by Tropical Storm Isaias.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Florida
▪ Miami-Dade County reported 1,732 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 — four more than reported Thursday — and 25 new deaths, according to Florida’s Department of Health. The county now has 129,409 confirmed cases and 1,809 deaths.
▪ Broward County reported 688 additional confirmed cases of the disease — a decline of 16 from Thursday’s new cases — and no new deaths. The county now has a known total of 60,746 cases and 782 deaths.
▪ Palm Beach County saw 377 additional confirmed cases — a decline of 77 compared to Thursday — and 27 new deaths. The county now has 36,114 confirmed cases and 919 deaths.
▪ Monroe County reported 18 additional cases of the disease — a decline of 16 from Thursday — and no new deaths, according to the health department. The Florida Keys now have 1,456 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 noon Friday, there were 7,171 COVID-19 patients admitted into hospitals throughout the state, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration dashboard. This represents a decline of 283 patients.
Of those, 1,619 were in Miami-Dade, 1,021 in Broward, 442 in Palm Beach and 10 in Monroe counties, according to the agency. Miami-Dade declined by two. Broward declined by 19; Palm Beach by 12; and the Florida Keys held steady.
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.
Miami-Dade hospitalizations for COVID-19 complications decreased from 1,863 Wednesday to 1,821 Thursday to 1,785 Friday, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard. According to Friday’s data, 173 people were discharged and 131 people were admitted.
The state has had a total of 29,730 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 Friday, Florida’s Department of Health reported the results of 87,725 new tests on Thursday. The positive rate was 13.82% of the total, according to the report. In total, 5,135,173 tests have been conducted.
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To date, 3,903,010 people have been tested in Florida, an increase of 39,734. Of the total tested, 518,075 (13.8%) have tested positive. The state says there are 3,374 tests with pending results.
This story was originally published August 7, 2020 at 11:25 AM.
