Florida COVID update: 17,506 new cases and fewer patients in the hospital
Florida reported 17,506 COVID-19 cases and no new deaths on Friday to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to Miami Herald calculations of CDC data.
In all, Florida has recorded at least 3,308,731 confirmed COVID cases and 45,909 deaths.
In the last seven days, on average, the state has added 324 deaths and 18,463 cases to the cumulative total each day, according to Herald calculations of CDC data. The trends for new reported deaths are higher than at any time during the pandemic.
Cases and hospitalizations are beginning to plateau and decrease, a Herald report showed Friday.
Over the last week, from Aug. 27 to Sept. 2, Florida’s resident virus totals increased by 129,202 cases and 2,345 deaths, according to Herald calculations of the Florida Department of Health’s weekly report, released on Friday.
Newly reported weekly death totals have continued to climb in every report since mid-June, according to Herald analyses. The state previously saw 1,737 deaths from Aug. 20 to Aug. 26.
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.
COVID-19 vaccine rates in Florida
More than 10.8 million Floridians have completed the two-dose series of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna, or have received Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine, according to Florida’s weekly report.
Two million Floridians have completed their first vaccine dosage of Pfizer or Moderna. The state health department has begun to include Floridians who have received a booster shot, which as of Friday’s report is 178,794 people.
The number of Floridians fully or partially vaccinated is 12,945,642, according to Herald calculations of state data.
COVID-19 IN FLORIDA
Here’s a breakdown of how many new COVID-19 cases were reported this past week in South Florida and Manatee County, according to state data.
▪ Miami-Dade County reported 12,080 new resident cases in the week ending Sept. 2, according to Herald calculations of state data.
The county has recorded at least 639,503 confirmed cases and 6,472 deaths.
In Miami-Dade, 2,210,809 people, or about 88% of eligible residents, have received at least one dose of the vaccine, the state reported.
▪ Broward County reported 8,845 new resident cases in the week ending Sept. 2, according to Herald calculations of state data.
The county has recorded at least 332,684 confirmed cases and 3,079 deaths.
In Broward, 1,319,685 people, or about 78% of eligible residents, have received at least one dose of the vaccine, the state reported.
▪ Palm Beach County reported 6,887 new resident cases in the week ending Sept. 2, according to Herald calculations of state data.
The county has recorded at least 207,314 confirmed cases and 2,883 deaths.
In Palm Beach, 931,401 people, or about 72% of eligible residents, have received at least one dose of the vaccine, the state reported.
▪ Monroe County reported 340 new resident cases in the week ending Sept. 2, according to Herald calculations of state data.
The county has recorded at least 9,859 confirmed cases and 52 deaths.
In Monroe, 52,995 people, or about 77% of eligible residents, have received at least one dose of the vaccine, the state reported.
▪ Manatee County reported 3,066 new resident cases in the week ending Sept. 2, according to Herald calculations of state data.
The county has recorded at least 58,560 confirmed cases and 689 deaths.
In Manatee, 232,780 people, or about 65% of eligible residents, have received at least one dose of the vaccine, the state reported.
COVID-19 hospitalizations in Florida
There were 14,577 people hospitalized for COVID-19 in Florida on Friday, according to data reported to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services from 260 Florida hospitals. That is 372 fewer patients than Thursday’s COVID patient population.
COVID-19 patients also accounted for 24.97% of all hospital patients.
Of the hospitalized in Florida, 3,270 people were in intensive care unit beds, a decrease of 70. That represents 49.38% of the state’s ICU hospital beds from 260 hospitals reporting data.
Friday’s Miami-Dade County report said there were 1,372 COVID patients in the county’s hospitals on Thursday, a decrease of 4 from the previous day’s report. Of the 96 new COVID patients, 82 (85.4%) had not been vaccinated.
Broward County’s Friday report said there were 1,292 COVID patients in the county’s hospitals, a decrease of 52 from yesterday’s patient population.
This story was originally published September 3, 2021 at 1:30 PM with the headline "Florida COVID update: 17,506 new cases and fewer patients in the hospital."
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