Florida surpasses 1.3 million COVID cases with more than 13,800 added, most since July
Florida’s Department of Health on Wednesday confirmed 13,871 additional cases of COVID-19, the most reported since July. The state has now confirmed a total of 1,306,123 cases.
Also, 137 new resident deaths were announced, bringing the resident toll to 21,546. Two new non-resident deaths were also announced, bringing the non-resident toll to 311.
Wednesday’s single-day case count is the most recorded since July 16, when 13,965 cases were added. That is if you exclude Nov. 27 and Dec. 26, when the state reported more than 17,000 cases because no reports were issued on Thanksgiving or Christmas. Testing information was not immediately available.
Following the highest spike in coronavirus percent positivity reaching the state’s peak, positivity plummeted to 8.72% from 22.81%, returning to the two-week trend of daily positivity ranging from 8.03% to 11.11%.
This in part has to do with 180,183 people being tested Tuesday, which is nearly triple the number tested when the spike occurred, and comes in as the second highest day of testing in the last two weeks.
This sudden drop in positivity and increase in testing also occurred in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, lowering the counties’ percent positivities as well.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Florida
▪ Miami-Dade County reported 2,748 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and five new deaths, according to Florida’s Department of Health. The county has now had 295,936 confirmed cases and 4,169 deaths. The percent positivity for new cases decreased from 24.04% to 6.95%. The 14-day percent positivity is at 9.60%, according to Miami-Dade’s Moving to a New Normal Dashboard.
▪ Broward County reported 1,456 additional confirmed cases and 10 new deaths. The county’s known total is now at 136,038 cases and 1,840 deaths. The percent positivity for new cases decreased from 24.22% to 6.56%.
▪ Palm Beach County saw 509 additional confirmed cases and eight new deaths. The county has 81,899 confirmed cases and 1,881 deaths. The percent positivity for new cases decreased from 19.62% to 6.95%.
▪ Monroe County confirmed 15 additional cases and no new deaths. The county has a known total of 4,197 cases and 35 deaths. The percent positivity for new cases decreased from 9.60% to 3.38%.
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 2:47 p.m. Wednesday, there were 6,298 COVID-19 patients admitted into hospitals throughout the state, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration dashboard. This number is at mid-August levels, when more than 5,000 COVID-19 patients were admitted into hospitals throughout the state.
Of Wednesday’s hospitalizations, 989 were in Miami-Dade, 579 in Broward, 357 in Palm Beach and three 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 Wednesday, Miami-Dade hospitalizations for COVID-19 complications increased from 1,072 to 1,078, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard. According to Wednesday’s data, 170 people were discharged and 137 people were admitted.
The state has had a total of 62,508 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 Wednesday, Florida’s Department of Health reported the results of 180,183 people tested on Tuesday. The positivity rate of new cases (people who tested positive for the first time) decreased from 22.81% to 8.72%.
If retests are included, the positivity rate decreased from 26.32% to 10.03%.
This story was originally published December 30, 2020 at 2:37 PM.
