Florida adds nearly 15,000 COVID cases as total tops 1.5 million, with 156 new deaths
Florida’s Department of Health on Tuesday confirmed 14,896 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the state’s known total to a new milestone: 1,503,482. Also, 156 new resident deaths were announced, bringing the state’s resident death toll from the novel coronavirus to 23,227.
Five new non-resident deaths were also announced, bringing the non-resident toll to 358. The Sunshine State has the fourth-highest death toll in the country, after New York, Texas, and California, according to the New York Times database of U.S. cases.
According to the state’s Tuesday COVID-19 vaccine report, 648,353 people have been vaccinated in Florida — with 51,234 people completing the series of two doses of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. Baptist Health was the latest hospital to begin delivering vaccines to seniors at its Kendall campus in Miami-Dade on Monday. The hospital joins others across Miami-Dade and Broward to make the vaccines available to seniors 65 and older.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Florida
▪ Miami-Dade County reported 2,948 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 11 new deaths, according to Florida’s Department of Health. The county has now had 331,649 confirmed cases and 4,452 deaths. The percent positivity for new cases increased from 8.92% to 9.41%. The 14-day percent positivity was at 9.99%, according to Miami-Dade’s Moving to a New Normal Dashboard.
▪ Broward County reported 1,121 additional confirmed cases and 10 new deaths. The county’s known total is now at 151,524 cases and 1,938 deaths. The percent positivity for new cases increased from 8.61% to 8.87%.
▪ Palm Beach County saw 753 additional confirmed cases and three new deaths. The county has 93,295 confirmed cases and 1,975 deaths. The percent positivity for new cases increased from 8.85% to 10.22%.
▪ Monroe County confirmed 18 additional cases and no new deaths. The county has a known total of 4,737 cases and 36 deaths. The percent positivity for new cases decreased from 9.32% to 3.92%.
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.
As of 10:45 a.m. Tuesday, there were 7,691 COVID-19 patients admitted into hospitals throughout the state, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration dashboard. This number is at August levels, when more than 5,000 COVID-19 patients were admitted into hospitals throughout the state.
Of Tuesday’s hospitalizations, 1,102 were in Miami-Dade, 652 in Broward, 436 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 Tuesday, Miami-Dade hospitalizations for COVID-19 complications decreased from 1,221 to 1,208, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard. According to Tuesday’s data, 150 people were discharged and 93 people were admitted.
The state has had a total of 66,204 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 137,843 people tested on Monday. The positivity rate of new cases (people who tested positive for the first time) decreased from 10.60% to 10.59%.
This story was originally published January 12, 2021 at 2:44 PM with the headline "Florida adds nearly 15,000 COVID cases as total tops 1.5 million, with 156 new deaths."
