Florida’s 7,788 new COVID cases are the lowest this month; positivity rate dips to 5.5%
The state of Florida’s COVID-19 dashboard reported 7,788 new cases Sunday, the fewest in January, and another daily report said the most recent daily positive test rate for the state was only 5.54%.
The dashboard also reported 120 total deaths, 119 of which were residents, keeping alive the morbid streak of at least 100 total deaths per day.
Dec. 28, when 99 deaths were reported, was the last day under 100 total deaths, and the 7,391 cases Dec. 27 was the last day with fewer cases reported than Sunday. Dec. 27 also fell on a Sunday, typically the lowest case number day throughout the pandemic because data collection and entry is reduced during the weekend.
For the coronavirus pandemic, Florida has had 1,721,377 cases, 26,479 resident deaths and 26,915 total deaths.
As for the state’s positive test rates, they’ve bounced this week like one of the old Super Ball toys with two days over 10% and two days under 7%, including Saturday. The average daily positive test rate for the last seven days is 9.06% compared to 9.35% for the seven days before that.
The vaccination report says 1,364,416 people have received the first dose of the vaccine and 314,528 have received both doses.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases and vaccinations in South Florida
▪ Miami-Dade County reported 1,478 more people who tested positive and 29 more COVID-19 deaths, putting its pandemic totals at 372,120 cases and 4,874 deaths. The state reported 2,900 people completed their vaccinations Saturday, meaning 49,649 in Miami-Dade have received both vaccination shots.
The positive test rate on Saturday was 5.55, the second consecutive day in the 5% range. For the week, the state’s county-by-county breakdown says the average daily positive test rate fell from 8.79% Jan. 17 through Jan. 23 to 8.28% for Jan. 24 through Saturday.
▪ Broward County reported another 782 cases and 10 deaths, moving its totals to 172,864 cases and 2,092 deaths. Another 571 people completed their vaccinations Saturday, putting Broward’s completed vaccine total at 30,821.
Broward’s average daily positive test rate was 8.67% the last seven days. For the seven days previous to that, it was 8.41%. The positive test rate was 5.62% on Saturday.
▪ Palm Beach County reported 551 new cases (107,242 for the pandemic) and zero deaths (2,166). After 383 people completed their vaccine treatment Saturday, 19,685 in Palm Beach County have received both shots.
And the average daily positive test rate sat at 8.64% for the last seven days, down a tad from 8.64% for the previous seven days. Saturday’s positive rate was 5.41%.
▪ Monroe County reported 37 new cases and no deaths. Pandemic totals in the Keys are 5,369 cases and 40 deaths. Eleven people completed their vaccine shot treatment Saturday. Overall, 532 have done so.
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 1:31 p.m. Sunday, the ACHA said there were 6,101 people currently hospitalized, down 44 from 8:31 p.m. Saturday, and a plunge of 625 from a week ago. Compared to Saturday, Miami-Dade was down 52 to 856; Broward stayed the same at 640; Palm Beach was down two to 408; and Monroe was down one to three.
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 , including the frequency of daily updates.
Sunday, Miami-Dade’s New Normal Dashboard reported 982 people admitted to the hospital from COVID-19, a baby step down of two from Saturday and a drop of 54 from a week ago. The number of patients in Intensive Care Unit Beds fell nine to 220, up one from a week ago.
This story was originally published January 31, 2021 at 3:11 PM with the headline "Florida’s 7,788 new COVID cases are the lowest this month; positivity rate dips to 5.5%."
