Florida adds more than 120 COVID-19 deaths, pushing resident toll closer to 15,000
Florida’s Department of Health on Wednesday confirmed 2,582 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the state’s known total to 722,707. Also, 137 resident deaths were announced, bringing the resident death toll to 14,904.
Two new non-resident deaths were also announced, bringing the non-resident toll to 180, according to Florida’s COVID-19 Data & Surveillance Dashboard.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Florida
▪ Miami-Dade County reported 431 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 19 new deaths, according to Florida’s Department of Health. The county now has 173,280 confirmed cases and 3,368 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases fell from 6.02% to 3.94%. The 14-day percent positivity average is 4.74%, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard.
▪ Broward County reported 238 additional confirmed cases of the disease and 11 new deaths. The county has a known total of 78,374 cases and 1,440 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases fell from 3.59% to 3.01%.
▪ Palm Beach County saw 140 additional confirmed cases and 12 new deaths. The county now has 47,384 confirmed cases and 1,408 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases fell from 3.98% to 2.80%.
▪ Monroe County confirmed nine additional cases and no new deaths. The county has a known total of 1,895 cases and 23 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases fell from 7.79% to 5.52%.
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 6:15 p.m. Wednesday, there were 2,120 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, 277 were in Miami-Dade, 216 in Broward, 102 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 347 to 340, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard. According to Wednesday’s data, 53 people were discharged and 46 people were admitted.
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The state has had 45,259 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 66,274 people tested on Tuesday. The positivity rate of new cases (people who tested positive for the first time) decreased from 5.25% to 4.15%.
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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 fell from 6.83% to 5.33% of the total, the report said.
This story was originally published October 7, 2020 at 11:16 AM with the headline "Florida adds more than 120 COVID-19 deaths, pushing resident toll closer to 15,000."
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