Florida Sunday COVID update: 2.3 million fully vaccinated, fewest deaths since Nov. 15
The Florida Department of Health’s COVID-19 dashboard reported 3,699 new confirmed cases and 31 total deaths, the fewest total deaths on the daily report since Nov. 15.
That was also a Sunday, usually the day with the lowest case numbers and death toll because data tends to be collected and entered at a lower rate on the weekends. Still, there have been quite a few Sundays between Nov. 15 and March 14.
For the pandemic, Florida reports 1,976,808 cases, 32,255 resident deaths and 32,860 total deaths.
Saturday’s state-wide positive test rate of 5.69% was the highest since Monday, but the 11th consecutive day under 6%.
COVID vaccines in Florida and South Florida
▪ Florida: The state’s vaccination report says another 22,049 have received either the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine or their second COVID vaccine dose of the two-shot vaccines, meaning 2,323,366 are fully vaccinated.
▪ Miami-Dade County: The state reported 4,263 people completed their vaccinations, meaning 251,973 in Miami-Dade are fully vaccinated.
▪ Broward: Another 1,046 people completed their vaccinations, putting Broward’s completed vaccine total at 199,626
▪ Palm Beach: After 2,330 people completed their vaccine treatment, 222,294 in Palm Beach County have completed a vaccine regimen.
▪ Monroe: Another 17 people completed their vaccine shot treatment. Overall, 9,153 have done so.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Florida
▪ Miami-Dade County reported 751 more people who tested positive and nine more COVID-19 deaths, putting its pandemic totals at 426,900 cases and 5,660 deaths.
The positive test rate on Saturday was 5.79%, according to the county-by-county breakdown, the fifth consecuitve day and eighth of the last 11 under 8%.
▪ Broward County reported another 496 cases and six deaths, moving its totals to 203,832 cases and 2,447 deaths.
The positive test rate was 5.82% on Saturday, continuing the up-down-up-down trend of the last six days.
▪ Palm Beach County reported 360 new cases (125,866 for the pandemic) and one death (2,546).
Saturday’s positive rate was 6.68%, the first over 6% since March 3 and the highest since Feb. 28.
▪ Monroe County reported nine new cases and zero deaths. Pandemic totals in the Keys are 6,116 cases and 47 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 2:02 p.m Sunday, the agency said there were 2,868 people hospitalized, a 98-person drop from 5:15 p.m. Saturday and another plunge of over 439 from last Sunday. South Florida’s counties generally dropped from Saturday: Miami-Dade plummented 62 to 526; Broward, up one to 426; Palm Beach, down nine to 177; and Monroe, down one to two.
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 617 COVID-19 patients, up eight from Saturday’s report and even with a week ago. The number of patients in Intensive Care Unit Beds was 166 at Sunday’s report, same as Saturday’s report and down three from seven days ago.
This story was originally published March 14, 2021 at 2:45 PM with the headline "Florida Sunday COVID update: 2.3 million fully vaccinated, fewest deaths since Nov. 15."
