Florida COVID update: 902 deaths added, most from past month, as hospitalizations rise
Florida on Monday reported 31,164 more COVID-19 cases and 902 deaths to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to Miami Herald calculations of CDC data.
All but eight of the newly reported deaths occurred after Aug. 2, with 70% of those people dying in the last 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.
In all, Florida has recorded at least 3,231,846 confirmed COVID cases statewide and 44,553 deaths.
In the last seven days, on average, the state has added 262 deaths and 21,301 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 and the agency not reporting numbers on Sundays. The numbers include totals from the two weekend days.
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 on Aug. 23.
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 Monday report, 11,350,651 eligible Floridians — 52.8% 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 1,812,061 people, or 66.7% of the county’s total population, are fully vaccinated.
▪ In Broward County about 1,097,809 people are fully vaccinated, or 56.2% of the county’s population.
▪ In Palm Beach County about 808,667 people are fully vaccinated, or 54% of the county’s population.
▪ In Monroe County about 46,463 people are fully vaccinated, or 62.6% of the county’s population.
▪ In Manatee County about 199,222 people are fully vaccinated, or 49.4% of the county’s population.
COVID-19 hospitalizations in Florida
There were 15,788 people hospitalized for COVID-19 in Florida on Monday, according to data reported to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services from 257 Florida hospitals. That is 10 more patients than Sunday’s COVID patient population, putting an end to a four-day streak of total hospitalized COVID patients decreasing.
COVID-19 patients also accounted for 27.45% of all hospital patients.
Of the people hospitalized in Florida, 3,494 were in intensive care unit beds, an increase of 17. That represents 53.12% of the state’s ICU hospital beds from 257 hospitals reporting
Monday’s Miami-Dade County report said there were 1,524 COVID patients in the county’s hospitals on Sunday, an increase of eight from the previous day’s report. Of the 97 new COVID patients, 81 (83.5%) had not been vaccinated.
Broward County’s Monday report said there were 1,463 COVID patients in the county’s hospitals, an increase of seven from the previous day’s patient population.
El Nuevo Herald Reporter Ana Claudia Chacin and Miami Herald reporter Carli Teproff contributed to this report.
This breaking news article will be updated.
This story was originally published August 30, 2021 at 1:32 PM with the headline "Florida COVID update: 902 deaths added, most from past month, as hospitalizations rise."
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