Florida adds 7,711 COVID cases, and 100-plus deaths push death toll past 19,200
Florida’s Department of Health on Monday confirmed 7,711 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the state’s known total to 1,065,785, the third highest in the country, after California and Texas, according to the New York Times database of U.S. cases.
Also, 105 new resident deaths were announced, inching up the statewide resident toll to 19,282.
One new non-resident death was also announced, bringing the non-resident toll to 247.
Fewer tests are usually processed during the weekend and sometimes also cause Monday to see a smaller case count. Monday’s case count was the lowest in a week; however, daily case counts have been near or exceeded the 10,000 mark several times in the last week.
Confirmed COVID-19 Cases in South Florida
▪ Miami-Dade County reported 2,014 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 21 new deaths, according to Florida’s Department of Health. The county has a total of 245,064 confirmed cases and 3,934 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases decreased from 8.55% to 8.50%. The 14-day percent positivity average was 8.60%, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” Dashboard.
▪ Broward County reported 792 additional confirmed cases and 10 new deaths. The county now has a known total of 114,426 cases and 1,711 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases increased from 7.30% to 7.68%.
▪ Palm Beach County saw 419 additional confirmed cases and six new deaths. The county now has 69,331 confirmed cases and 1,731 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases increased from 6.73% to 7.15%.
▪ Monroe County confirmed 35 additional cases and no new deaths. The county has a known total of 3,604 cases and 28 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases increased from 8.09% to 12.11%.
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 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 5:02 p.m. Monday, there were 4,495 COVID-19 patients admitted into hospitals throughout the state, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration dashboard. This is a big jump from what the state was reporting last month though it’s still less than early August, when more than 5,000 COVID-19 patients were admitted into hospitals throughout the state.
Of Monday’s hospitalizations, 808 were in Miami-Dade, 438 in Broward, 271 in Palm Beach and four in Monroe, 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 Monday, Miami-Dade hospitalizations for COVID-19 complications increased from 857 to 906, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard. According to Monday’s data, 79 people were discharged and 99 people were admitted.
The state has had a total of 56,607 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 Monday, Florida’s Department of Health reported the results of 111,745 people tested on Sunday. The positivity rate of new cases (people who tested positive for the first time) decreased from 7.86% to 7.64%.
If retests are included — people who have tested positive once and are being tested for a second time — the positivity rate decreased from 9.91% to 9.87%, according to the report.
This story was originally published December 7, 2020 at 2:44 PM with the headline "Florida adds 7,711 COVID cases, and 100-plus deaths push death toll past 19,200."
