Florida adds 3,356 coronavirus cases, the most reported since last month
Florida’s Department of Health on Thursday confirmed 3,356 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the state’s known total to 744,988. Also, 141 resident deaths were announced, bringing the resident death toll to 15,736.
Three new non-resident deaths were also announced, bringing the non-resident toll to 196.
Thursday’s single-day case count is the most Florida has reported since Sept. 19, when 3,573 cases were added. Testing also saw some increase though it’s not the most tests reported this month.
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 69,935 people tested on Wednesday. The positivity rate of new cases (people who tested positive for the first time) decreased from 5.39% to 5.20%.
If retests are included — people who have tested positive once and are being tested for a second time — the positivity rate rose from 6.65% to 6.70% of the total, according to the report.
While Thursday’s single day case count was the most reported since last month, there was an exception on Oct. 11, when more than 5,000 cases were added because duplicated test results clogged up Florida’s data reporting system for a day.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Florida
▪ Miami-Dade County reported 538 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 16 new deaths, according to Florida’s Department of Health. The county now has 176,809 confirmed cases and 3,501 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases fell from 5.08% to 5.04%. The 14-day positivity average is 4.70%, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” Dashboard.
▪ Broward County reported 236 additional confirmed cases of the disease and eight new deaths. The county has a known total of 80,112 cases and 1,492 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases rose from 4.02% to 4.07%.
▪ Palm Beach County saw 159 additional confirmed cases and seven new deaths. The county now has 48,496 confirmed cases and 1,472 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases fell from 4.51% to 3.76%.
▪ Monroe County confirmed 23 additional cases and no new deaths. The county has a known total of 2,002 cases and 24 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases rose from 5.13% to 10.57%.
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 6:46 p.m. Thursday, there were 2,119 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, 282 were in Miami-Dade, 183 in Broward, 115 in Palm Beach and eight 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 had a slight increase from 331 to 333, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard. According to Thursday’s data, 48 people were discharged and 47 people were admitted.
The state has had a total of 46,693 Florida residents hospitalized for COVID-19-related complications, according to Florida’s COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard.
This story was originally published October 15, 2020 at 11:11 AM with the headline "Florida adds 3,356 coronavirus cases, the most reported since last month."
