Florida COVID update: New cases continue to balloon as 32,869 added to state toll
Florida on Thursday reported 32,869 additional COVID-19 cases and 83 more deaths to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to Miami Herald calculations of CDC data.
This is the largest multi-day increase of newly reported cases since Sept. 6, which saw 46,105. The CDC backlogs cases and deaths for Florida on Mondays and Thursdays, leading to big increases.
All but seven of the newly reported deaths — about 92% — occurred since Nov. 25, according to the Herald analysis. About 70% of the newly reported have died in the past two weeks, the analysis showed.
In all, Florida has recorded at least 3,832,530 confirmed COVID cases and 62,347 deaths.
In the past seven days, as the omicron version of the virus has circulated, the state has added 22 deaths and 14,554 cases per day on average, according to Herald calculations of CDC data. That rolling seven-day case average is the highest it’s been since Sept. 11, when it was at 15,633.
FLORIDA COVID VACCINE RATES
About 13,541,346 eligible Floridians — 63% of the state’s population — have completed the two-dose series of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines or have completed Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
VACCINATIONS IN SOUTH FLORIDA AND MANATEE COUNTY
Here’s how many people have been fully vaccinated in South Florida and Manatee County, according to the CDC.
▪ In Miami-Dade County, about 2,174,125 people, or 80% of the county’s total population, are fully vaccinated.
▪ In Broward County, about 1,314,925 people are fully vaccinated, or 67% of the county’s population.
▪ In Palm Beach County, about 943,748 people are fully vaccinated, or 63% of the county’s population.
▪ In Monroe County, about 55,156 people are fully vaccinated, or 74% of the county’s population.
▪ In Manatee County, about 236,804 people are fully vaccinated, or 59% of the county’s population.
COVID-19 hospitalizations in Florida
There were 1,913 people hospitalized for COVID-19 in Florida, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services report on Thursday. That is 64 more people hospitalized than in Wednesday’s report, when 230 hospitals reported, but not necessarily the same hospitals. Thursday’s hospitalization data was reported from 240 Florida hospitals.
COVID-19 patients now take up 3.54% of patient beds, compared to 3.41% in the previous day’s reporting hospitals.
Of the people hospitalized in Florida, 302 were in intensive care unit beds, a decrease of 12. That represents about 4.90% of the state’s ICU hospital beds, compared to 5.06% the previous day.
Thursday’s Miami-Dade County report said there were 447 COVID patients in the county’s hospitals on Wednesday, an increase of 133 from the previous day. Of the 154 new COVID patients, 101 (65.58%) had not been vaccinated. Intensive care patients numbered 45, an increase of 15 from the previous day.
Broward County’s Thursday report said there were 319 COVID patients in the county’s hospitals. The county did not release a Wednesday report, but patients increased by 90 from Tuesday’s report.
This story was originally published December 23, 2021 at 1:18 PM.
%20Cropped%20(2).jpg)