Florida COVID update: 23,335 new cases, state continues to see increasing hospitalizations
Florida reported 23,335 new COVID-19 cases to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday, according to Herald calculations of CDC data.
On Wednesday, the state also reported eight new deaths the day before. In all, Florida has recorded at least 2,978,433 confirmed COVID cases statewide and 41,149 deaths.
In early August, the CDC changed the way it reported new cases and deaths in Florida. According to statements from the Florida Department of Health, a complete renewed set of data is given to the CDC daily, which may include changes to previous days daily totals.
The Herald continues to report the difference in total cases and deaths from one day to the next in stories about daily new cases and deaths — as this is consistent with the way data has been presented in daily stories since the beginning of the pandemic.
The Herald calculates new cases by using the difference between cumulative total of cases and the total from the previous day, as pulled daily from the CDC Trends Tracker. New deaths are calculated the same way.
As a result, the “new cases” and “new deaths” listed on the CDC site for any given day may be higher or lower than numbers published by the Herald for the same day.
In a statement to the Herald, Florida DOH spokesperson Weesam Khoury said the state’s new reporting system “will ensure that continuous epidemiological analyses provide the most updated data to the public.”
COVID-19 vaccine rates in Florida
As of the Wednesday report, 10,891,932 eligible Floridians — 50.7% of the state’s population — had completed the two-dose series of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna, or have completed Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine, according to the CDC.
A higher number of Floridians have received at least one dose of the vaccine — about 61.7% of the state’s population, or 13,242,261.
COVID-19 VACCINES IN SOUTH FLORIDA
The CDC reports that every county’s level of community transmission is high. Here’s how many people have been fully vaccinated in South Florida, according to the CDC.
▪ In Miami-Dade County about 1,737,309 people, or 63.9% of the county’s total population, are fully vaccinated.
▪ In Broward County about 1,051,232 people are fully vaccinated, or 53.8% of the county’s population.
▪ In Palm Beach County about 779,620 people are fully vaccinated, or 52.1% of the county’s population.
▪ In Monroe County about 45,049 people are fully vaccinated, or 60.7% of the county’s population.
▪ In Manatee County about 192,577 people are fully vaccinated, or 47.8% of the county’s population.
COVID-19 hospitalizations in Florida
There were 17,096 people hospitalized for COVID-19 in Florida on Wednesday — breaking the state’s current hospitalization record, according to data reported to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services from 230 Florida hospitals. This is 264 more patients than yesterday’s COVID patient population.
COVID-19 patients also accounted for 31.01% of all hospital patients.
Of the hospitalized in Florida, 3,610 people were in intensive care unit beds, an increase of 60. That represents 55.01% of the state’s ICU hospital beds from 232 hospitals reporting data.
Wednesday’s Miami-Dade County report said there were 1,821 COVID patients in the county’s hospitals on Sunday, a rise of 200 from the previous day’s report. Of the new COVID patients, 178 had not been vaccinated.
Broward County’s Wednesday report said there were 1,748 COVID patients in the county’s hospitals on Sunday, a decline of eight from the previous day’s report.
This story was originally published August 18, 2021 at 6:32 PM.
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