Florida adds more than 3,200 coronavirus cases as death toll passes 10,700
Florida’s Department of Health on Wednesday confirmed 3,220 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the state’s known total to 608,722. There were also 153 Florida resident deaths announced, bringing the resident death toll to 10,733.
There were also two new nonresident deaths, bringing the toll to 139.
CONFIRMED COVID-19 CASES IN SOUTH FLORIDA
▪ Miami-Dade County reported 750 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19, and 40 new deaths, according to Florida’s Department of Health. The county now has 154,135 confirmed cases and 2,317 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 7.67%.
▪ Broward County reported 299 additional confirmed cases of the disease and 13 new deaths. The county now has a known total of 69,883 cases and 1,160 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 5.80%.
▪ Palm Beach County saw 160 additional confirmed cases and 12 new deaths. The county now has 41,013 confirmed cases and 1,078 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 4.10%.
▪ Monroe County saw five additional confirmed cases and one new death. The county now has a known total of 1,700 cases and 15 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 3.17%.
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 5:02 p.m. Wednesday, there were 4,405 COVID-19 patients admitted into hospitals throughout the state, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration dashboard.
Of those, 802 were in Miami-Dade, 559 in Broward, 253 in Palm Beach and 1 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 Wednesday, Miami-Dade hospitalizations for COVID-19 complications decreased from 964 to 930, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard. According to Wednesday’s data, 119 people were discharged and 53 people were admitted.
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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 Wednesday, Florida’s Department of Health reported the results of 65,295 people tested on Tuesday. The positive rate of new cases (people who tested positive for the first time) was 5.75%.
If retests are included — people who have tested positive once and are being tested for a second time — the positive rate for Tuesday’s testing was 8.44% of the total, according to the report.
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In total, 6,125,699 tests have been conducted. To date, 4,499,640 people have been tested in Florida. Of the total tested, 608,722 (13.53%) have tested positive. The state says there are 3,504 tests with pending results.
This story was originally published August 26, 2020 at 10:55 AM with the headline "Florida adds more than 3,200 coronavirus cases as death toll passes 10,700."
