Florida adds 2,355 coronavirus cases as resident death toll nears 13,000
Florida’s Department of Health on Wednesday confirmed 2,355 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the state’s known total to 671,201. There were also 152 Florida resident deaths announced, bringing the resident death toll to 12,939.
Two new non-resident deaths were also announced, bringing the non-resident toll to 161.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Florida
▪ Miami-Dade County reported 459 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 32 new deaths, according to Florida’s Department of Health. The county now has 165,147 confirmed cases and 2,955 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 4.52%. The 14-day positivity average is 5.35%, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” Dashboard.
▪ Broward County reported 143 additional confirmed cases of the disease and nine new deaths. The county has a known total of 74,832 cases and 1,297 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 2.97%.
▪ Palm Beach County saw 154 additional confirmed cases and 18 new deaths. The county now has 44,459 confirmed cases and 1,234 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 4.04%.
▪ Monroe County confirmed four additional cases and no new deaths. The county’s known total is at 1,791 cases and 20 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 2.46%.
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 providing only 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 5:15 p.m. Wednesday, there were 2,464 COVID-19 patients admitted into hospitals throughout the state, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration dashboard. This is a significant decrease from early August, when more than 5,000 COVID-19 patients were admitted into hospitals throughout the state.
Of Wednesday’s hospitalizations, 382 were in Miami-Dade, 260 in Broward, 163 in Palm Beach and three 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 480 to 463, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard. According to Wednesday’s data, 70 people were discharged and 60 people were admitted.
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The state has had a total of 41,851 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 positivity 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 57,161 people tested on Tuesday. The positivity rate of new cases (people who tested positive for the first time) was 4.47%.
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If retests are included — people who have tested positive once and are being tested for a second time — the positivity rate was 5.78% of the total, the report said.
This story was originally published September 16, 2020 at 11:10 AM with the headline "Florida adds 2,355 coronavirus cases as resident death toll nears 13,000."
