Florida reports 3,838 coronavirus cases and more than 200 deaths, pushing toll past 9,700
Florida’s Department of Health on Tuesday confirmed 3,838 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the state’s known total to 579,932. There were also 219 Florida resident deaths announced, bringing the resident death toll to 9,758.
There were no new non-resident deaths announced, leaving the non-resident toll at 135.
Confirmed COVID-19 Cases in South Florida
Note: The Florida Department of Health says that each county’s percent positivity for new cases (people who tested positive for the first time) does not include retests (people who have tested positive once and are being tested for a second time.)
▪ Miami-Dade County reported 964 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19, and 45 new deaths, according to Florida’s Department of Health. The county now has 146,990 confirmed cases and 2,126 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 10.5%.
▪ Broward County reported 367 additional confirmed cases of the disease and 12 new deaths. The county now has a known total of 67,193 cases and 1,025 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 7.6%.
▪ Palm Beach County saw 186 additional confirmed cases and 14 new deaths. The county now has 39,460 confirmed cases and 1,006 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 5.7%.
▪ Monroe County reported seven additional cases of the disease and no new deaths, according to the health department. The Florida Keys now have 1,650 confirmed cases and 13 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 2.6%.
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.
The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration reports 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 11 a.m. Tuesday, there were 5,483 COVID-19 patients admitted into hospitals throughout the state, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration dashboard.
Of those, 1,090 were in Miami-Dade, 695 in Broward, 360 in Palm Beach and 10 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. Officials say this could be for a number of reasons including the frequency of daily updates.
On Tuesday, Miami-Dade hospitalizations for COVID-19 complications increased slightly for the first time in weeks. Those hospitalized went up from 1,291 to 1,294, only a three person increase, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard.
According to Tuesday’s data, 150 people were discharged and 93 people were admitted.
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The state has had a total of 34,695 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.
Epidemiologists then use the testing data to create a positive rate. The rate helps them determine if a rise in cases is because of an increase in testing, or if it means there’s increased transmission of the virus in the community.
On Tuesday, Florida’s Department of Health reported the results of 56,884 people tested on Monday. The positive rate of new cases (people who tested positive for the first time) was 7.91%.
If retests are included — people who have tested positive once and are being tested for a second time — the positive rate for Sunday’s testing was 11.10% of the total, according to the report.
In total, 5,757,074 tests have been conducted. To date, 4,285,720 people have been tested in Florida. Of the total tested, 567,690 (13.25%) have tested positive. The state says there are 3,814 tests with pending results.
This story was originally published August 18, 2020 at 11:10 AM.
