Florida hits 10,000 coronavirus deaths of residents, with 117 new fatalities reported
Florida’s Department of Health on Thursday announced 117 COVID-related resident deaths, bringing the state’s resident death toll to 10,049.
There were also 4,555 additional cases of COVID-19 confirmed, bringing the state’s known total to 588,602.
Two new non-resident deaths were also announced, bringing the non-resident toll to 137.
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 1,069 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19, and 19 new deaths, according to Florida’s Department of Health. The county now has 149,162 confirmed cases and 2,185 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 9.65%
▪ Broward County reported 534 additional confirmed cases of the disease and two new deaths. The county now has a known total of 68,068 cases and 1,051 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 7.28%
▪ Palm Beach County saw 224 additional confirmed cases and 17 new deaths. The county now has 39,886 confirmed cases and 1,039 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 5.23%
▪ Monroe County reported nine additional cases of the disease and one new death, according to the health department. The Florida Keys now have 1,675 confirmed cases and 14 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 4.26%
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 2 p.m. Thursday, there were 5,067 COVID-19 patients admitted into hospitals throughout the state, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration dashboard.
Of those, 951 were in Miami-Dade, 690 in Broward, 308 in Palm Beach and 4 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 Thursday, Miami-Dade hospitalizations for COVID-19 complications decreased from 1,219 to 1,136, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard. According to Thursday’s data, 150 people were discharged and 67 people were admitted.
The state has had a total of 35,650 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 Thursday, Florida’s Department of Health reported the results of 77,172 people tested on Wednesday. The positive rate of new cases (people who tested positive for the first time) was 6.78%.
If retests are included — people who have tested positive once and are being tested for a second time — the positive rate for Wednesday’s testing was 9.98% of the total, according to the report.
In total, 5,856,136 tests have been conducted. To date, 4,342,418 people have been tested in Florida. Of the total tested, 588,602 (13.55%) have tested positive. The state says there are 3,604 tests with pending results.
This story was originally published August 20, 2020 at 11:02 AM.
