Florida sees largest single-day case increase as patients go up, testing lines get longer
Florida on Friday saw its largest single-day increase of newly reported COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began — and that was even before people gathered for Nochebuena and Christmas brunch.
“After the holidays I suspect we will have a very busy week,” said Randy Katz, associate district medical director of emergency services for Memorial Healthcare System in Broward. “I do think we have another week or two before we really peak and then see the numbers come down.”
There were 31,758 cases on Thursday, according to Miami Herald calculations of state data reported Friday to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. The previous record was during the height of the delta wave in Florida with 27,584 cases reported on Aug. 27, according to Herald calculations.
The case increase comes as the omicron variant quickly spreads across the country and elsewhere. The uptick has led to long lines at testing sites, canceling of flights, outbreaks on cruises and changes in hospital visitation rules.
“The past 10 days we have seen a significant surge in volume in the emergency departments,” Katz said. “ A lot of the volume increase we have seen is related to testing and patients with mild symptoms. We are not seeing as many patients with significant lung disease...and a lot of the complications we have seen in the past with previous surges including the delta surge.”
Dr. Aileen Marty, an infectious-disease expert at Florida International University, said Friday that the huge jump was “not surprising for omicron ... which now dominates our wastewater and is dominate in new cases.”
She says the increase is taking its toll on medical workers.
“Our healthcare staff is stretched and exhausted many are experiencing burn out,” she said. “We need to slow the rate of spread and need everyone to follow CDC guidelines to reduce the spread of the virus.”
Cases and hospitalizations have steadily increased in Florida. In early December, Florida was seeing daily case increases that ranged from about 1,600 to 4,000, according to Herald calculations. That has grown exponentially as new daily cases have been ranging from about 6,000 to more than 30,000 in the last 10 days.
Similarly, Florida’s seven-day case average has seen consecutive increases since Dec. 10. On that day, the seven-day average was 1,700 and it has grown to 17,836 on Friday. That rolling seven-day case average is the highest it’s been since Sept. 3, when it was at 18,463.
No new deaths were reported for Thursday — though it is likely the Florida Department of Health will add deaths to Thursday’s total. The state has done this in the past when it has added cases and deaths to previous days during the pandemic.
In the past seven days, the state has added 22 deaths on average.
In all, Florida has recorded at least 3,864,288 confirmed COVID cases and 62,347 deaths.
How things are changing
First identified on Nov. 24 in South Africa, the omicron variant has quickly become the dominant strain in Miami-Dade, and the U.S. as a whole.
Concerns over the spread, led to hours-long lines at testing sites in both Miami-Dade and Broward.
The line of cars at Miami-Dade’s Tropical Park — which is a 24-hour drive-through COVID test site — spilled out onto Bird Road. It was the same in Broward County at C.B. Smith Park in Pembroke Pines and at Boulevard Heights Community Center in Hollywood.
Only three of the Miami-Dade sites will be open for testing on Christmas Day. They are: Tropical Park, South Dade Government Center and Miami Dade College North.
The rapid spread has also led to outbreaks on three cruises, two Royal Caribbean and one Carnival Cruise Line. The cruise ships were denied entry at different ports because of infected passengers and crew members.
Delta Air Lines and United Airlines have had to cancel flights because of COVID-related staff shortages.
Meanwhile, companies, including Universal Studios, are reacting by reinstating mask mandates for patrons while indoors.
And hospitals are changing their visitation policies, in some cases visitation is extremely limited like at Memorial Healthcare Systems.
Katz said this surge seems different than in the past.
“This virus, although not as lethal, the transmissability level is really high,” he said. “It is just so contagious.”
Cases boom in South Florida Counties
Here’s a breakdown of how many new COVID-19 cases were reported this past week in South Florida and Manatee County. The Florida Department of Health includes county resident case totals in its weekly coronavirus report, which is released on Fridays.
▪ Miami-Dade County reported 52,435 new resident cases in the week ending Dec. 23, according to Herald calculations of the weekly report. The county’s resident case total stands at 747,820.
That is the highest amount of new cases the county has reported over a week since the state began releasing these reports in the beginning of June.
▪ Broward County reported 23,532 new resident cases in the week ending Dec. 23, according to Herald calculations of the weekly report. The county’s resident case total stands at 391,238.
That is the highest amount of new cases the county has reported over a week since the state began releasing these reports in the beginning of June.
▪ Palm Beach County reported 11,812 new resident cases in the week ending Dec. 23, according to Herald calculations of the weekly report. The county’s resident case total stands at 243,450.
That is the highest amount of new cases the county has reported over a week since the state began releasing these reports in the beginning of June.
▪ Monroe County reported 368 new resident cases in the week ending Dec. 23, according to Herald calculations of the weekly report. The county’s resident case total stands at 11,404.
▪ Manatee County reported 819 new resident cases in the week ending Dec. 23, according to Herald calculations of the weekly report. The county’s resident case total stands at 66,861.
FLORIDA COVID VACCINE RATES
The CDC won’t update vaccination data until Monday, but here is where the numbers stand as of Thursday: 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.
COVID-19 hospitalizations in Florida
There were 2,191 people hospitalized for COVID-19 in Florida, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services report on Friday. That is 278 more people hospitalized than in Thursday’s report, when 240 hospitals reported, but not necessarily the same hospitals. Friday’s hospitalization data was reported from 248 Florida hospitals.
COVID-19 patients now take up 3.99% of patient beds, compared to 3.54% in the previous day’s reporting hospitals.
Of the people hospitalized in Florida, 335 were in intensive care unit beds, an increase of 33. That represents about 5.37% of the state’s ICU hospital beds, compared to 4.90% the previous day.
Miami-Dade’s and Broward’s report were not updated Friday because of the holiday.
This story was originally published December 24, 2021 at 2:05 PM with the headline "Florida sees largest single-day case increase as patients go up, testing lines get longer."
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