Florida COVID update: 901 added deaths, largest single-day increase in pandemic history
Florida on Thursday reported 21,765 more COVID-19 cases and 901 deaths to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to Miami Herald calculations of CDC data.
All but two of the newly reported deaths occurred after July 25, with about 78% of those people dying in the past two weeks, according to Herald calculations of data published by the CDC. The majority of deaths happened during Florida’s latest surge in COVID-19 cases, fueled by the delta variant.
It is the largest single-day increase to the death total in the state’s COVID pandemic history.
In the last seven days, on average, the state has added 242 deaths and 22,556 cases each day, according to Herald calculations.
The jump in the number of reported cases and deaths is due to the newest way deaths and cases are counted. The CDC implemented the change earlier this month, causing occasional one-day aberrations like the 901 additional deaths on Thursday and 726 more deaths reported Monday.
In all, Florida has recorded at least 3,151,909 confirmed COVID cases statewide and 43,632 deaths.
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREThe Herald publishes the number of new COVID-19 cases and deaths reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after each update by the agency.
On Aug. 10, the Florida Department of Health changed the way it reported new cases and deaths to the CDC. Cases and deaths used to be logged as total new cases reported on a single day. Now, Florida is reporting cases by the “case date,” according to the CDC, rather than the date the case was logged into the system. The result of this change is a lag in cases by date and a number of cases back-filling over time.
The Herald will continue 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 have been presented in daily stories since the beginning of the pandemic.
More information
The Herald is calculating new cases using the difference between cumulative total of cases and the total from the previous day, as pulled daily from the CDC trends data. 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 different than numbers published by the Herald for the same day.
According to a statement from CDC spokesperson Jasmine Reed on Aug. 18: “Florida’s aggregate case and death data includes case date for cases and date of death for deaths. The method applies data shared by Florida and to data displayed on COVID Data Tracker. Other States also use this reporting method and states can vary in the reporting method. For example, data as of the date that states submit may be the date that a state received its data from its reporting entities, or it might be another dating method that the state prefers.”
DOH spokesperson Weesam Khoury said Florida’s new reporting system “will ensure that continuous epidemiological analyses provide the most updated data to the public.” Neither agency provided further explanation of how a “case date” is assigned to each new case.
Florida COVID-19 vaccine rates
As of the Thursday report, 11,138,433 eligible Floridians — 51.9% 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.
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 1,779,732 people, or 65.5% of the county’s total population, are fully vaccinated.
▪ In Broward County about 1,077,319 people are fully vaccinated, or 55.2% of the county’s population.
▪ In Palm Beach County about 795,090 people are fully vaccinated, or 53.1% of the county’s population.
▪ In Monroe County about 45,789 people are fully vaccinated, or 61.7% of the county’s population.
▪ In Manatee County about 196,121 people are fully vaccinated, or 48.6% of the county’s population.
COVID-19 hospitalizations in Florida
There were 16,833 people hospitalized for COVID-19 in Florida on Thursday, according to data reported to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services from 256 Florida hospitals. That is 331 fewer patients than Wednesday’s COVID patient population.
COVID-19 patients also accounted for 28.76% of all hospital patients.
Of the hospitalized in Florida, 3,688 people were in intensive care unit beds, an increase of 54. That represents 55.28% of the state’s ICU hospital beds from 256 hospitals reporting data.
Thursday’s Miami-Dade County report said there were 1,692 COVID patients in the county’s hospitals on Wednesday, a decrease of 201 from the previous day’s report. Of the 152 new COVID patients, 131 (86.2%) had not been vaccinated.
El Nuevo Herald Reporter Ana Claudia Chacin contributed to this report.
This story was originally published August 26, 2021 at 3:15 PM with the headline "Florida COVID update: 901 added deaths, largest single-day increase in pandemic history."
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