South Florida reports two COVID deaths as Florida adds 1,685 cases, lowest since June
Florida’s Department of Health on Monday confirmed 1,685 additional cases of COVID-19, the lowest reported since June.
Monday’s single-day count is lower than last Monday’s 1,736 confirmed cases and is the lowest seen since 1,371 cases were announced on June 10.
The state has now confirmed a total of 685,439 COVID-19 cases. Also Monday, 21 Florida resident deaths announced, bringing the resident death toll to 13,317.
Of the 21 resident deaths, two were in Broward County. The rest of South Florida did not report any additional deaths for the second day in a row, according to the Florida Department of Health.
One new non-resident death was also announced, bringing the non-resident toll to 163.
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 272 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and no new deaths, according to Florida’s Department of Health. The county now has 167,153 confirmed cases and 3,055 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 3.67%. The 14-day positivity average is 4.55%, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” Dashboard.
▪ Broward County reported 119 additional confirmed cases of the disease and two new deaths. The county has a known total of 75,801 cases and 1,322 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 2.50%
▪ Palm Beach County saw 96 additional confirmed cases and no new deaths. The county now has 45,425 confirmed cases and 1,277 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 3.17%
▪ Monroe County decreased its confirmed case count from 1,809 to 1,808 and did not report any new deaths, leaving its total toll at 22. While it’s still unclear what caused the decrease, health officials have previously said that case decreases usually occur when officials later learn that the person who tested positive did not live in Monroe County. Monroe’s percent positivity is 3.57%.
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 1:16 p.m. Monday, there were 2,266 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 Monday’s hospitalizations, 315 were in Miami-Dade, 242 in Broward, 154 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 Monday, Miami-Dade hospitalizations for COVID-19 complications saw a slight uptick from 382 to 387, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard. According to Monday’s data, 29 people were discharged and 28 people were admitted.
The state has had a total of 42,543 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 Monday, Florida’s Department of Health reported the results of 43,198 people tested on Sunday. The positivity rate of new cases (people who tested positive for the first time) was 4.36%.
If retests are included — people who have tested positive once and are being tested for a second time — the positivity rate was 6.13% of the total, the report said.
This story was originally published September 21, 2020 at 11:15 AM with the headline "South Florida reports two COVID deaths as Florida adds 1,685 cases, lowest since June."
