Florida COVID update: State breaks another case record, and hospitalizations on the rise
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Florida on Monday reported 85,707 cases and 61 new 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 the pandemic began in March 2020.
The previous multi-day record was set during the height of the delta wave last summer when 56,036 cases were reported on Aug. 16.
The large increase comes from the CDC backlogging cases and deaths for Florida on Mondays and Thursdays, when multiple days in the past had their totals changed. In August, Florida began reporting cases by the “case date” rather than the date the case was logged into the system, resulting in a number of cases back-filling over time.
All but 570 of the newly reported cases — about 99.3% — occurred since Dec. 6, according to the Miami Herald analysis.
Of the deaths added, about 59% occurred over the past 28 days (since Dec. 6) and about 43% in the last two weeks, according to Herald calculations of CDC data.
In the past seven days, the state has added 22 deaths and 53,195 cases per day, on average, according to Herald calculations of CDC data. In all, Florida has recorded at least 4,308,534 confirmed COVID cases and 62,541 deaths. That rolling seven-day case average is the highest it’s ever been.
FLORIDA COVID VACCINE RATES
The CDC didn’t update vaccination data Monday, but here is where the numbers stood as of Thursday, the last time it updated: 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 5,700 people hospitalized for COVID-19 in Florida, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Monday report. This data is reported from 259 Florida hospitals. The number of people hospitalized across the state is 275 more than the day prior.
COVID-19 patients take up 10.08% of all inpatient beds in the latest report, compared to 9.55% among Sunday’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, 614 were in intensive-care units, an increase of 29 from Sunday. That represents about 10% of the state’s ICU beds, compared to 9.37% the previous day.
Monday’s Miami-Dade County report said there were 1,652 COVID patients in the county’s hospitals on Sunday, an increase of 180 from the previous day. Of the 314 new COVID patients, 212 (67.52%) had not been vaccinated. Intensive care patients numbered 180, an increase of 17 from a day earlier.
Broward County’s Monday report said there were 1,014 COVID patients in the county’s hospitals, an increase of 120 patients compared to the day before.
Miami Herald staff writer Carli Teproff contributed to this report.
This story was originally published January 3, 2022 at 2:50 PM.
