Florida adds 120 COVID-19 deaths, pushing resident toll near 14,000
Florida’s Department of Health on Friday confirmed 2,847 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the state’s known total to 695,887. Also, 120 Florida resident deaths were announced, bringing the resident death toll to 13,915.
Two new non-resident deaths were also announced, bringing the non-resident toll to 168.
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 503 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 39 new deaths, according to Florida’s Department of Health. The county now has 168,775 confirmed cases and 3,202 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 5.40%. The 14-day positivity average is 4.44%, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” Dashboard.
▪ Broward County reported 191 additional confirmed cases of the disease and six new deaths. The county has a known total of 76,520 cases and 1,364 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 3.02%.
▪ Palm Beach County saw 157 additional confirmed cases and seven new deaths. The county now has 46,023 confirmed cases and 1,337 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 2.92%.
▪ Monroe County confirmed 11 additional cases and no new deaths. The DOH has said the spike in cases is not from schools reopening as the youngest of the new cases is 50 years old. The county has a known total of 1,828 cases and 22 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases: 4.37%.
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 7:16 p.m. Friday, there were 2,121 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 statewide.
Of Friday’s hospitalizations, 275 were in Miami-Dade, 215 in Broward, 128 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.
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The state has had 43,299 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 Friday, Florida’s Department of Health reported the results of 72,079 people tested on Thursday. The positivity rate of new cases (people who tested positive for the first time) was 4.29%.
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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 5.39% of the total, the report said.
This story was originally published September 25, 2020 at 11:04 AM.
