One day after spike, Florida adds almost 3,700 new COVID-19 cases and 73 resident deaths
Florida’s Department of Health on Friday confirmed 3,689 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the state’s known total to 771,780. Also, 73 resident deaths were announced, bringing the resident death toll to 16,340.
The state reported one new nonresident death, bringing the non-resident toll to 204 and total reported deaths for Friday to 74.
The total cases’ figure follows Thursday’s 5,557 — the highest single-day count since Aug. 15 when 6,352 were reported. Since then, only Sept. 1 and Oct. 11 had higher reported numbers because of a “data dump” in the former and a combination of two days’ worth of numbers due to a technical issue last Sunday.
Though the number of cases dipped in Friday’s daily report, the number of deaths was 16 higher than Thursday’s 57.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Florida
▪ Miami-Dade County reported 520 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 12 new deaths, according to Florida’s Department of Health. The county now has 181,017 confirmed cases and 3,597 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases decreased from 5.16% to 3.11%. Miami-Dade has now tested 1,014,679 people, according to the dashboard. The 14-day average is 4.63%, according to Miami-Dade’s New Normal dashboard.
▪ Broward County reported 456 additional confirmed cases of the disease and no new deaths. The county has a known total of 82,706 cases and 1,519 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases decreased from 4.91% to 4.56%.
▪ Palm Beach County saw 229 additional confirmed cases and nine new deaths. The county now has 49,988 confirmed cases and 1,558 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases decreased from 5.58% to 3.19%
▪ Monroe County confirmed 20 additional cases and no new deaths. The county has a known total of 2,151 cases and 25 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases decreased from 8.12% to 5.13%.
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 9:46 a.m. Friday, there were 2,042 COVID-19 patients admitted into hospitals throughout the state, 32 fewer than Thursday evening, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration dashboard. This is still a significant decrease from early August, when more than 5,000 COVID-19 patients were admitted into hospitals throughout the state.
Of Friday’s hospitalizations, there were 269 in Miami-Dade, a drop of six compared to Thursday evening; 177 in Broward, a decline of eight; 117 in Palm Beach, a rise of three; and three in in Monroe, a decline by one, 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 Friday, Miami-Dade hospitalizations for COVID-19 complications increased from 341 to 351, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard. According to Wednesday’s data, 40 people were discharged and 47 people were admitted.
The state has had a total of 47,953 Florida residents hospitalized for COVID-19-related complications, according to Florida’s COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard.
COVID-19 Testing in Florida
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 93,471 people tested on Thursday. The positivity rate of new cases (people who tested positive for the first time) decreased from 5.6% to 3.98%.
This story was originally published October 23, 2020 at 11:33 AM.
