Florida sees the most daily COVID-19 cases for the second day as 19,816 are reported
Florida again broke its record for the highest single-day number of COVID-19 cases on Thursday, adding 19,816 new cases as the state’s death toll surpassed 22,400.
The previous single-day record was 17,783 cases on Wednesday.
Thursday’s report by the Florida Department of Health of nearly 20,000 cases brought the state’s known total of COVID-19 cases to 1,429,722, the third-highest in the country, after California and Texas, according to the New York Times database of U.S. cases.
Also, 164 new resident deaths were announced, bringing the state’s resident death toll to 22,481. The health department announced six new non-resident deaths, raising the non-resident death toll to 336.
The total COVID deaths recorded in the state as of Thursday were 22,817, the fourth-highest in the country, after New York, Texas and California, according to the Times database.
For the fifth day, the state saw a continued increase of testing of Florida residents. On Wednesday, 193,251 residents were tested, which rose from 96,363 people tested on Saturday. Percent positivity has dipped below 12% for the first time in four days.
Confirmed COVID-19 Cases in South Florida
▪ Miami-Dade County reported 3,373 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 37 new deaths, according to Florida’s Department of Health. The county has a total of 318,115 confirmed cases and 4,297 deaths, the most in the state. Percent positivity for new cases decreased from 10.23% to 10.21%. The 14-day percent positivity average was 11.05%, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” Dashboard.
▪ Broward County reported 1,611 additional confirmed cases and seven new deaths. The county has a known total of 146,201 cases and 1,897 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases decreased from 10.51% to 10.00%.
▪ Palm Beach County saw 1,169 additional confirmed cases and 10 new deaths. The county now has 88,852 confirmed cases and 1,933 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases decreased from 11.45% to 10.25%.
▪ Monroe County confirmed 102 additional cases and one new death. The county has a known total of 4,529 cases and 36 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases increased from 7.06% to 9.78%.
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 7:01 p.m. Thursday, there were 7,327 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 7,000 COVID-19 patients were admitted daily into hospitals throughout the state.
Of Thursday’s hospitalizations, 1,031 were in Miami-Dade, 583 in Broward, 430 in Palm Beach and two 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 Thursday, Miami-Dade hospitalizations for COVID-19 complications decreased from 1,182 to 1,133, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard. According to Thursday’s data, 181 people were discharged and 100 people were admitted.
The state has had a total of 64,704 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 Thursday, Florida’s Department of Health reported the results of 193,251 people tested on Wednesday. The positivity rate of new cases (people who tested positive for the first time) decreased from 12.60% to 11.60%.
If retests are included, the positivity rate decreased from 14.26% to 13.15%%.
This story was originally published January 7, 2021 at 2:39 PM with the headline "Florida sees the most daily COVID-19 cases for the second day as 19,816 are reported ."
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