Florida adds 183 COVID-19 deaths, bringing toll past 10,500. New cases below 3,000 again
Florida’s Department of Health on Tuesday confirmed 2,673 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the state’s known total to 605,502. There were also 183 Florida resident deaths announced, bringing the resident death toll to 10,580.
There were no new non-resident deaths, leaving the non-resident toll at 137.
Tuesday is the third consecutive day this week that the state has reported fewer than 3,000 new cases. Testing has also been down.
On Tuesday, Florida’s Department of Health reported the results of 43,524 people tested on Monday, making it the second lowest test count reported this month. The results are for 2,079 fewer people than what the state reported Monday.
The lowest count was recorded on Aug. 16 with 39,167 tests. Many state-supported testing sites were closed that weekend because of Tropical Storm Isaias.
With the exception of those three days, Florida has reported more than 56,530 tests a day in August. This includes retests.
A three-day rolling average of new daily cases from Aug. 11-Aug. 24, which helps smooth out day-to-day dips and spikes, shows that Florida has seen some decrease in new cases.
CONFIMED COVID-19 CASES IN SOUTH FLORIDA
▪ Miami-Dade County reported 773 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19, and 24 new deaths, according to Florida’s Department of Health. The county now has 153,385 confirmed cases and 2,277 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 9.35%.
▪ Broward County reported 201 additional confirmed cases of the disease and 15 new deaths. The county now has a known total of 69,584 cases and 1,147 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 5.66%.
▪ Palm Beach County saw 107 additional confirmed cases and five new deaths. The county now has 40,853 confirmed cases and 1,066 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 4.89%.
▪ Monroe County saw one additional confirmed case and no new deaths. The county now has a known total of 1,695 cases and 14 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 3.33%.
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 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, there were 4,545 COVID-19 patients admitted into hospitals throughout the state, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration dashboard.
Of those, 831 were in Miami-Dade, 584 in Broward, 243 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 Tuesday, Miami-Dade hospitalizations for COVID-19 complications decreased from 1,019 to 964, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard. According to Tuesday’s data, 114 people were discharged and 62 people were admitted.
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 43,524 people tested on Monday. The positive rate of new cases (people who tested positive for the first time) was 7.49%.
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 11.34% of the total, according to the report.
In total, 6,081,254 tests have been conducted. To date, 4,473,343 people have been tested in Florida. Of the total tested, 605,502 (13.54%) have tested positive. The state says there are 3,555 tests with pending results.
This story was originally published August 25, 2020 at 11:04 AM with the headline "Florida adds 183 COVID-19 deaths, bringing toll past 10,500. New cases below 3,000 again."
