Florida reports 7,391 new COVID cases, fewest since Nov. 30. Other signs not as good
Two days after COVID-19 testing sites were shut down for Christmas Day, Florida’s COVID-19 dashboard reported 7,391 new cases, the fewest since Nov. 30.
The state’s positive test rate rose, however, while current hospitalizations rocketed upward.
Being between the Christmas and New Year’s holidays as well as a Sunday, normally a day of lower cases than the rest of the week, there’s no surprise the case numbers dropped to the lowest since the Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday. After the 6,659 reported that day, the daily case count dipped below 8,000 only twice before Sunday.
Along with 77 new deaths reported, all residents, Florida’s pandemic totals stand at 1,271,979 cases, 21,212 resident deaths and 21,514 total deaths.
The positive test rate reported for Saturday, on only 65,939 tests, was 9.69%, the highest since Dec. 14. But the average daily positive test rate slid to 8.50 for the last seven days reported from 8.85 for the previous seven days reported.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Florida
Miami-Dade County reported 1,644 more people who tested positive and 23 more COVID-19 deaths, putting its pandemic totals at 288,306 cases and 4,150 deaths. The positive test rate on Saturday was 9.73% and 9.45 on Friday, both on light returns of test results. But, for the week, the state’s county-by-county breakdown says the average daily positive test rate skidded from 8.87% for Dec. 13 through Dec. 19 to 8.19% for Dec. 20 through Saturday.
▪ Broward County reported another 704 cases and six deaths, moving its totals to 132,897 cases and 1,817 deaths. Broward’s average daily positive test rate dropped from 7.40% for Dec. 13 through Dec. 19 to 6.59% from Dec. 20 through Saturday. The positive test rate was 8.68% on Saturday.
▪ Palm Beach County reported 409 new cases (80,239 for the pandemic), but zero deaths (1,860). And the average daily positive test rate dropped to 6.86% for the last seven days from 7.28% for the previous seven days. Saturday’s positive rate was 7.29%
▪ Monroe County reported 16 new cases and one new death. Pandemic totals in the Keys are 4,153 cases and 34 deaths.
Current hospitalizations
Government officials use current hospitalizations to decide the next action in dealing with the pandemic. On the state level, this has been steadily falling over the last month.
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.
As of 11 a.m. Sunday, the AHCA said there were 6,367 people currently hospitalized, a gargantuan jump of 731 from 11 a.m. Saturday and an increase of 1,131 (or 21.6%) from a week ago. Compared to Saturday, Miami-Dade was up 21 to 992; Broward was down 13 to 530; Palm Beach was up 17 to 312; and Monroe remained the same at two.
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.
Sunday, Miami-Dade’s New Normal Dashboard reported 1,058 people admitted to the hospital from COVID-19, a rise of 22 people from Saturday and an increase of 16 from a week ago. The number of patients in Intensive Care Unit Beds sat at 212, up eight from Saturday, but down 27 from a week ago.
This story was originally published December 27, 2020 at 2:55 PM.
