Florida sees nearly 75,000 more people vaccinated as 16,347 new COVID cases reported
Florida’s Department of Health on Friday confirmed 16,347 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the state’s known total to 1,548,067. Also, 186 new resident deaths were announced, bringing the state’s resident death toll from the novel coronavirus to 23,799.
There were seven new non-resident deaths, raising the non-resident toll to 370.
The Sunshine State has a total of 24,169 deaths, making it the fourth-highest death toll in the country, after New York, California and Texas, according to the New York Times database of U.S. cases.
According to the state’s Friday COVID-19 vaccine report, 849,317 people have been vaccinated in Florida, an increase of 74,849 people from Thursday — with 79,552 people completing the series of two doses of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Florida
▪ Miami-Dade County reported 2,685 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 28 new deaths, according to Florida’s Department of Health. The county has now had 339,434 confirmed cases and 4,528 deaths. The percent positivity for new cases increased from 8.93% to 8.94%. The 14-day percent positivity was at 10.05%, down from 10.10%, according to Miami-Dade’s Moving to a New Normal Dashboard.
▪ Broward County reported 1,386 additional confirmed cases and 10 new deaths. The county’s known total is now at 156,452 cases and 1,955 deaths. The percent positivity for new cases increased from 7.50% to 8.61%.
▪ Palm Beach County saw 1,213 additional confirmed cases and nine new deaths. The county has 96,085 confirmed cases and 2,018 deaths. The percent positivity for new cases increased from 6.32% to 9.69%.
▪ Monroe County confirmed 65 additional cases and no new deaths. The county has a known total of 4,884 cases and 37 deaths. The percent positivity for new cases increased from 7.08% to 10.24%.
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 5:01 p.m. Friday, there were 7,528 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 Friday’s hospitalizations, 1,077 were in Miami-Dade, 633 in Broward, 412 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 Friday, Miami-Dade hospitalizations for COVID-19 complications increased from 1,163 to 1,180, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard. According to Friday’s data, 160 people were discharged and 135 people were admitted.
The state has had a total of 67,463 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 Friday, Florida’s Department of Health reported the results of 191,628 people tested on Thursday. The positivity rate of new cases (people who tested positive for the first time) increased from 8.63% to 10.17%.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
This story was originally published January 15, 2021 at 2:24 PM.
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