Florida resident death toll hits 15,000 as state adds 3,306 new coronavirus cases
Florida’s Department of Health on Thursday confirmed 3,306 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the state’s known total to 726,013. Also, 164 resident deaths were announced, bringing the resident death toll to 15,068.
Six new non-resident deaths were also announced, bringing the non-resident toll to 186, according to Florida’s COVID-19 Data & Surveillance Dashboard.
Thursday’s total of newly confirmed cases is the most Florida has reported since Sept. 19, when 3,573 cases were confirmed. Thursday’s testing data was not immediately available.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Florida
▪ Miami-Dade County reported 441 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 19 new deaths, according to Florida’s Department of Health. The county now has 173,721 confirmed cases and 3,387 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases rose from 3.88% to 4.24%. The 14-day percent positivity average is 4.72%, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard.
▪ Broward County reported 240 additional confirmed cases of the disease and three new deaths. The county has a known total of 78,614 cases and 1,443 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases rose from 2.85% to 3.57%.
▪ Palm Beach County saw 141 additional confirmed cases and eight new deaths. The county now has 47,525 confirmed cases and 1,416 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases rose from 2.76% to 3.04%.
▪ Monroe County confirmed 19 additional cases and no new deaths. The county has a known total of 1,914 cases and 23 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases fell from 5.52% to 5.11%.
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 6:01 p.m. Thursday, there were 2,141 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 Thursday’s hospitalizations, 265 were in Miami-Dade, 205 in Broward, 109 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 Thursday, Miami-Dade hospitalizations for COVID-19 complications decreased from 339 to 336, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard. According to Thursday’s data, 55 people were discharged and 45 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 Thursday, Florida’s Department of Health reported the results of 77,485 people tested on Wednesday. The positivity rate of new cases (people who tested positive for the first time) decreased from 5.54% to 5.33%.
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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 rose from 4.11% to 4.57% of the total, the report said.
This story was originally published October 8, 2020 at 11:16 AM with the headline "Florida resident death toll hits 15,000 as state adds 3,306 new coronavirus cases."
