Florida adds 2,056 coronavirus cases and 200 resident deaths, pushing toll past 12,000
Florida’s Department of Health on Wednesday confirmed 2,056 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the state’s known total to 652,148. There were also 200 Florida resident deaths announced, bringing the resident death toll to 12,115.
Two new non-resident deaths were also announced, bringing the non-resident toll to 154.
This is the first time in three weeks that Florida announced more than 200 deaths, but it does not necessarily mean that every person died in the past 24 hours. In Florida, the deaths announced on a given day could be from several days earlier.
The Florida Department of Health said in a news release Wednesday that of the 200 Florida resident deaths announced, two of them occurred Tuesday.
The health department also says they are seeing a “steady decline” in the number of reported COVID-19 related resident deaths and that the “fourth week of July compared to the fourth week of August, shows a 75 percent decrease in the average number of reported COVID-19 related deaths.”
While Wednesday’s single-day count of newly confirmed cases was higher than the previous two days, Florida is continuing to show signs of a downward trend.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Florida
▪ Miami-Dade County reported 407 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19, and 74 new deaths, according to Florida’s Department of Health. The county now has 162,433 confirmed cases and 2,740 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 6.25%. The 14-day positivy rate average is 6.46%, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard.
▪ Broward County reported 140 additional confirmed cases of the disease and 10 new deaths. The county now has a known total of 73,696 cases and 1,244 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 4.26%.
▪ Palm Beach County saw 113 additional confirmed cases and eight new deaths. The county now has 43,422 confirmed cases and 1,178 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 5.93%.
▪ Monroe County saw one additional confirmed case and one new death. The county now has a known total of 1,763 cases and 20 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 1.11%.
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 5:45 p.m. Wednesday, there were 3,074 COVID-19 patients admitted into hospitals throughout the state, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration dashboard.
Of those, 535 were in Miami-Dade, 332 in Broward, 158 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 Wednesday, Miami-Dade hospitalizations for COVID-19 complications decreased from 623 to 614, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard. According to Wednesday’s data, 88 people were discharged and 63 people were admitted.
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The state has had a total of 40,517 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 Wednesday, Florida’s Department of Health reported the results of 44,063 people tested on Tuesday. The positive rate of new cases (people who tested positive for the first time) was 5.94%.
If retests are included — people who have tested positive once and are being tested for a second time — the positive rate was 8.15% of the total, according to the report.
This article will be updated.
This story was originally published September 9, 2020 at 11:04 AM with the headline "Florida adds 2,056 coronavirus cases and 200 resident deaths, pushing toll past 12,000."
