Florida COVID update Sunday: 5,065 new cases, the second day under 100 deaths in 2021
The state of Florida’s COVID-19 dashboard reported 5,065 new cases and 95 total deaths Sunday, the second day under 100 deaths in 2021.
The first such day was last Sunday, Feb. 14, which had 96 deaths, all of which were residents.
Of the 95 deaths, 93 were Florida residents.
For the novel coronavirus pandemic, Florida has had 1,868,772 total cases, 29,906 resident deaths and 30,434 total deaths.
The state’s positive test rate Saturday was 6.32%, according to the daily COVID-19 report, the 12th consecutive day the positive test rate has been under 7%.
COVID vaccines in Florida and South Florida
▪ Florida: The state’s vaccination report says another 10,853 people have received the first COVID vaccine dose and 7,470 received their second dose, meaning 1,305,034 people are halfway through the vaccine and 1,388,919 are fully vaccinated.
▪ Miami-Dade County: The state reported 1,282 people completed their vaccinations, meaning 156,160 in Miami-Dade have received both vaccination shots.
▪ Broward: Another 704 people completed their vaccinations, putting Broward’s completed vaccine total at 133,974.
▪ Palm Beach: After 382 people completed their vaccine treatment, 128,209 in Palm Beach County have received both shots.
▪ Monroe: Ten people completed their vaccine shot treatment. Overall, 5,557 have done so.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Florida
▪ Miami-Dade County reported 1,128 more people who tested positive and 10 more COVID-19 deaths, putting its pandemic totals at 402,265 cases and 5,290 deaths.
The positive test rate on Saturday was 6.38%, according to the county-by-county breakdown, the 13th consecutive day under 7%.
▪ Broward County reported another 708 cases and 16 deaths, moving its totals to 189,833 cases and 2,340 deaths.
The positive test rate was 7.44% on Saturday, the highest since Feb. 7.
▪ Palm Beach County reported 328 new cases (117,559 for the pandemic) and zero deaths (2,394).
Saturday’s positive rate was 5.85%, the third day of the last six in the 5% range.
▪ Monroe County reported 13 new cases and zero deaths. Pandemic totals in the Keys are 5,688 cases and 44 deaths.
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 12:31 p.m Sunday, the agency said there were 4,156 people hospitalized, a 57-person drop from 3:45 p.m. Monday and a huge plunge of 531 from last Sunday. South Florida’s counties generally saw little change from Saturday: Miami-Dade up eight to 690; Broward, up 12 to 573; Palm Beach, up 13 to 322; and Monroe, down one hospitalization to three.
Florida’s 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.
Sunday, Miami-Dade’s New Normal Dashboard said hospitals reported 774 COVID-19 patients, up 25 from Saturday’s report, but down 37 from a week ago. The number of patients in Intensive Care Unit Beds was up seven to 171, which was down 14 from a week ago.
An earlier version of this story misstated the number of new cases reported.
This story was originally published February 21, 2021 at 2:29 PM with the headline "Florida COVID update Sunday: 5,065 new cases, the second day under 100 deaths in 2021."
