Florida COVID update: 18,608 more cases reported, eight new deaths, fewer in hospital
Florida on Tuesday reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 18,608 more COVID-19 cases on Monday, according to Miami Herald calculations of CDC data. The state also reported eight new deaths the day before.
In all, Florida has recorded at least 3,250,454 confirmed COVID cases statewide. In the last seven days, on average, the state has added 263 deaths and 20,930 cases each day, according to Herald calculations.
During Florida’s third peak, COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations appear to be at record highs, but reports from the Florida Department of Health show ‘artificially’ few deaths in recent weeks.
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 Tuesday report, 11,383,472 eligible Floridians — 53% 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 1,816,660 people, or 66.9% of the county’s total population, are fully vaccinated.
▪ In Broward County about 1,100,965 people are fully vaccinated, or 56.4% of the county’s population.
▪ In Palm Beach County about 811,073 people are fully vaccinated, or 54.2% of the county’s population.
▪ In Monroe County about 46,589 people are fully vaccinated, or 62.8% of the county’s population.
▪ In Manatee County about 199,837 people are fully vaccinated, or 49.6% of the county’s population.
COVID-19 hospitalizations in Florida
There were 15,682 people hospitalized for COVID-19 in Florida on Tuesday, according to data reported to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services from 231 Florida hospitals. That is 106 fewer patients than Monday’s COVID patient population.
COVID-19 patients also accounted for 28.63% of all hospital patients.
Of the hospitalized in Florida, 3,426 people were in intensive care unit beds, a decrease of 68. That represents 51.45% of the state’s ICU hospital beds from 231 hospitals reporting data.
Tuesday’s Miami-Dade County report said there were 1,625 COVID patients in the county’s hospitals on Monday, a rise of 101 from the previous day’s report. Of the 147 new COVID patients, 122 (82.9%) had not been vaccinated.
Broward County’s Tuesday report said there were 1,416 COVID patients in the county’s hospitals, a decrease of 47 from yesterday’s patient population.
This story was originally published August 31, 2021 at 1:38 PM with the headline "Florida COVID update: 18,608 more cases reported, eight new deaths, fewer in hospital."
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