Lower trend continues as Florida reports 1,823 COVID-19 cases. Death toll hits 11,900
Florida’s Department of Health on Tuesday confirmed 1,823 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the state’s known total to 650,092. There were also 44 Florida resident deaths announced, bringing the resident death toll to 11,915.
Tuesday’s single-day case count is less than Monday’s 1,838 confirmed cases and is the second day this week that the state reported fewer than 2,000. Cases in the 1,000’s haven’t been seen since June, with the exception of Aug. 31 when 1,885 cases were counted.
There were no new non-resident deaths, leaving the non-resident toll at 152.
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 389 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19, and eight new deaths, according to Florida’s Department of Health. The county now has 162,026 confirmed cases and 2,666 deaths. Percent positivity of new cases: 5.47%.
▪ Broward County reported 130 additional confirmed cases of the disease and 14 new deaths. The county now has a known total of 73,556 cases and 1,234 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 3.91%.
▪ Palm Beach County saw 122 additional confirmed cases and two new deaths. The county now has 43,309 confirmed cases and 1,170 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 4.95%.
▪ Monroe County saw one additional confirmed case and no new deaths. The county now has a known total of 1,762 cases and 19 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 1.20%.
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 p.m. Tuesday, there were 3,154 COVID-19 patients admitted into hospitals throughout the state, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration dashboard.
Of those, 541 were in Miami-Dade, 341 in Broward, 164 in Palm Beach and two 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 635 to 623, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard. According to Tuesday’s data, 66 people were discharged and 48 people were admitted.
The state has had a total of 40,195 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 40,893 people tested on Monday. The positive rate of new cases (people who tested positive for the first time) was 4.96%.
If retests are included — people who have tested positive once and are being tested for a second time — the positive rate for Monday’s testing was 6.81% of the total, according to the report.
This story was originally published September 8, 2020 at 11:16 AM with the headline "Lower trend continues as Florida reports 1,823 COVID-19 cases. Death toll hits 11,900."
