Florida COVID update: Single-day case increase record shattered as hospitalizations rise
Florida ended 2021 with the release on Friday of its biggest single-day COVID-19 case count during the pandemic.
The state reported 75,962 cases, according to Miami Herald calculations based on the state’s Friday report to the CDC.
The rest of the United States is also seeing a steep rise in COVID cases. On Thursday, the U.S. doubled its highest daily totals from last winter, according to The Washington Post.
Single-day case counts might have hit more than 560,000, single-day reports show, but those numbers might not be as reliable as a seven-day average, the Post reported.
The U.S. sits at a seven-day average of 343,172 new cases a day, which is the nation’s highest point in the pandemic.
The spike in cases has caused ripple effects.
The CDC on Thursday urged people to avoid cruise travel — regardless of vaccination status. For the last week, airlines have canceled thousands of flights.
On Friday, more than 1,400 U.S. flights had been canceled and about 2,900 worldwide, The Associated Press reported. More than 9,000 U.S. flights have been canceled since Christmas Eve.
Florida reported no new deaths Thursday, according to Herald calculations based on the state’s Friday report to the CDC.
Since Christmas Eve, Florida has day after day broken single-day and multi-day records as cases continue to mount. New daily cases have nearly tripled what they were at the height of Florida’s third wave, which was caused by the delta variant this past summer. The previous single-day increase record was set on Wednesday with 46,923 cases.
In all, Florida has recorded at least 4,165,962 confirmed COVID cases and 62,480 deaths.
In the past seven days, as the omicron variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 dominates the country, the state has added 19 deaths and 43,096 cases per day on average, according to Herald calculations. That rolling seven-day case average is the highest that it has ever been.
In contrast, deaths have not been raising at the same rate that they had during the delta wave. Several days had seen more than 1,000 deaths during the third wave, Herald calculations show, due to the CDC backlogging cases and deaths for Florida — when multiple days in the past would have their totals changed.
Omicron has not yet been seen to be as deadly as other variants nor has it caused an explosion of COVID patients in hospitals.
Evidence suggests that omicron causes less severe illness than previous strains, but experts emphasize that if more people get sick with even a mild case of COVID, then the number of those hospitalized is likely to grow, too.
Omnicron, Increasing Cases Causes Changes Throughout State
More business are changing their rules and counties are scrambling to find ways to accommodate the high demand for tests as the surge continues in Florida, especially in southern counties.
Miami-Dade County distributed about 75,000 COVID-19 home tests at eight libraries on Friday, adding to more than 150,000 kits that were given away from Christmas Eve through Monday.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools moved to require all adults to wear masks at schools. On Friday, Broward County Public Schools mandated visitors and vendors to wear masks at schools.
BCPS also strongly recommended that staff and students wear masks when on campus but did not require that for teachers. Miami-Dade requires teachers to wear masks.
Also in Broward, the county opened five more COVID-19 test sites to help with demand and long lines: Mullins Park in Coral Springs, Lauderhill Sports Park in Lauderhill, Tree Tops Park in Davie, Tradewinds Park in Coconut Creek and Central Broward Park & Broward County Stadium in Lauderhill.
Residents reported waiting for hours at some sites to get tested.
At one Tampa testing site, three people collapsed while in line Friday morning, the AP reported. Of the three, one person left before medics arrived and the other two were women in their 60s who had a history of blood-pressure issues. The city then started to provide water and ice to people waiting in line.
As for businesses, Zoo Miami moved to require masks inside all indoor facilities while the HistoryMiami Museum has closed until Jan. 10. The HistoryMiami Museum said the rise in cases has caused hardship and strain on its staff.
South Florida Counties Gripped By Big Case Increases
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 99,926 new resident cases in the week ending Dec. 30, according to Herald calculations of the weekly report. The county’s resident case total stands at 847,746.
New infections rose by 91%, far lower than the week before (Dec. 17-23) when infections rose by 354%. This is still the highest amount of new weekly cases that the county has ever reported.
In Miami-Dade, 2,550,987 people have received at least the first dose of a two-dose vaccine series or one dose of a single-dose series, that’s about 93% of the county’s vaccine-eligible population, according to the weekly report.
▪ Broward County reported 48,737 new resident cases in the week ending Dec. 30, according to Herald calculations of the weekly report. The county’s resident case total stands at 439,975.
New infections rose by 107%, far lower than the week before (Dec. 17-23) when infections rose by 400%. This is still the highest amount of new weekly cases that the county has ever reported.
In Broward, 1,504,995 people have received at least the first dose of a two-dose vaccine series or one dose of a single-dose series, that’s about 81% of the county’s vaccine-eligible population, according to the weekly report.
▪ Palm Beach County reported 24,792 new resident cases in the week ending Dec. 30, according to Herald calculations of the weekly report. The county’s resident case total stands at 268,242.
New infections rose by 110%, far lower than the week before (Dec. 17-23) when infections rose by 395%. This is still the highest amount of new weekly cases that the county has ever reported.
In Palm Beach, 1,041,867 people have received at least the first dose of a two-dose vaccine series or one dose of a single-dose series, that’s about 74% of the county’s vaccine-eligible population, according to the weekly report.
▪ Monroe County reported 955 new resident cases in the week ending Dec. 30, according to Herald calculations of the weekly report. The county’s resident case total stands at 12,359.
New infections rose by 160%, far lower than the week before (Dec. 17-23) when infections rose by 250%. This is still the highest amount of new weekly cases that the county has ever reported.
In Monroe, 59,472 people have received at least the first dose of a two-dose vaccine series or one dose of a single-dose series, that’s about 82% of the county’s vaccine-eligible population, according to the weekly report.
▪ Manatee County reported 2,844 new resident cases in the week ending Dec. 30, according to Herald calculations of the weekly report. The county’s resident case total stands at 69,705.
New infections rose by 247%, lower than the week before (Dec. 17-23) when infections rose by 259%.
In Manatee, 261,071 people have received at least the first dose of a two-dose vaccine series or one dose of a single-dose series, that’s about 67% of the county’s vaccine-eligible population, according to the weekly report.
FLORIDA COVID VACCINE RATES
The CDC won’t update vaccination data until Monday, but here is where the numbers stood as of Thursday: about 13,607,439 eligible Floridians — 63.4% 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 4,933 people hospitalized for COVID-19 in Florida, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Friday report. This data is reported from 260 Florida hospitals. That’s 500 more than Thursday’s report, which included data from 257 Florida hospitals.
COVID-19 patients take up 8.69% of all inpatient beds in the latest report, compared to 7.85% among Thursday’s reporting hospitals.
Omicron, so far, is not as deadly as delta’s surge last summer. Hospitalizations are not approaching records set during delta’s wave from July through September.
At delta’s August peak, more than 15,000 patients were hospitalized in Florida, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
Of the people hospitalized in Florida, 545 were in intensive-care units, an increase of 47 from Thursday’s report. That represents about 8.74% of the state’s ICU beds, compared to 8.03% the previous day.
Miami-Dade County’s COVID-19 report did not include hospitalization figures on Friday.
Broward County did not release its hospitalization report, most likely due to the holiday weekend.
This story was originally published December 31, 2021 at 1:16 PM.
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