Florida adds more than 200 COVID-19 deaths, pushing statewide toll past 13,600
Florida’s Department of Health on Wednesday confirmed 2,590 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the state’s known total to 690,499. Also, 202 Florida resident deaths were announced, bringing the resident death toll to 13,618.
The number of resident deaths is the most Florida has reported since Sept. 10, when 211 deaths were counted. This does not necessarily mean that all of the people died in the past 24 hours. In Florida, the deaths announced by the health department on a given day could be from several days earlier.
One new non-resident death was also announced, bringing the non-resident toll to 164, according to Florida’s COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Florida
▪ Miami-Dade County reported 365 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 42 new deaths, according to Florida’s Department of Health. The county now has 167,880 confirmed cases and 3,127 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 5.02%. The 14-day positivity average is 4.47%, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” Dashboard.
▪ Broward County reported 202 additional confirmed cases of the disease and 15 new deaths. The county has a known total of 76,146 cases and 1,343 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 5.17%.
▪ Palm Beach County saw 141 additional confirmed cases and 22 new deaths. The county now has 45,743 confirmed cases and 1,308 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 4.36%.
▪ Monroe County confirmed two additional cases and no new deaths. The county has a known total of 1,813 cases and 22 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 4.04%.
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 7 p.m. Wednesday, there were 2,254 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 Tuesday’s hospitalizations, 315 were in Miami-Dade, 220 in Broward, 133 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 remained at 388, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard. According to Wednesday’s data, 58 people were discharged and 31 people were admitted.
The state has had 42,941 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 54,483 people tested on Tuesday. The positivity rate of new cases (people who tested positive for the first time) was 5.30%.
If retests are included — people who have tested positive once and are being tested for a second time — the positivity rate was 7.21% of the total, the report said.
This story was originally published September 23, 2020 at 11:06 AM with the headline "Florida adds more than 200 COVID-19 deaths, pushing statewide toll past 13,600."
