Florida nears 900,000 coronavirus cases, as more than 7,000 cases and 85 deaths are reported
Florida’s Department of Health on Tuesday confirmed 7,459 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the state’s known total to nearly 900,000 at 897,323, the third highest in the nation after Texas and California.
The state also announced 85 resident deaths, bringing the resident death toll to 17,644.
On Tuesday, the cumulative non-resident toll was 216, which was an increase of one from Monday’s report.
The state’s number of new cases has been rising steadily; the daily average of new cases in the past seven days has topped 6,000 cases, levels haven’t seen since mid-August, according to the New York Times database of U.S. case counts.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Florida
▪ Miami-Dade County reported 1,882 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 14 new deaths, according to Florida’s Department of Health. The county has a total of 205,536 confirmed cases and 3,723 deaths.
▪ Broward County reported 966 additional confirmed cases and two new deaths. The county now has a known total of 96,700 cases and 1,598 deaths.
▪ Palm Beach County saw 400 additional confirmed cases and eight new deaths. The county now has 59,154 confirmed cases and 1,635 deaths.
▪ Monroe County confirmed 15 additional cases and no new deaths. The county has a known total of 2,854 cases and 25 deaths.
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 takes 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. Tuesday, there were 3,369 COVID-19 patients admitted into hospitals throughout the state, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration dashboard. This is a decrease from early August, when more than 5,000 COVID-19 patients were admitted into hospitals throughout the state.
Of Tuesday’s hospitalizations, 466 were in Miami-Dade, 324 in Broward, 244 in Palm Beach and nine in Monroe, according to the agency.
The state has had a total of 52,329 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 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 whether there’s increased transmission of the virus in the community.
On Tuesday, Florida’s Department of Health reported the results of 94,738 people tested on Monday. The positivity rate of new cases (people who tested positive for the first time) increased from 7.94% to 8.64%.
This story was originally published November 17, 2020 at 6:02 PM with the headline "Florida nears 900,000 coronavirus cases, as more than 7,000 cases and 85 deaths are reported."
