Florida COVID update: 59,487 new cases added to state toll, hospital patients increase
Florida reported 59,487 COVID-19 cases and one new death on Tuesday, according to Wednesday’s report to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based on Miami Herald calculations of CDC data.
In all, Florida has recorded at least 4,419,665 confirmed COVID cases and 62,542 deaths.
In the past seven days, as the omicron variant circulates, the state has added 22 deaths and 58,216 cases per day on average, according to Herald calculations of CDC data. That rolling seven-day case average is the highest recorded to-date.
The CDC rates the community transmission for each Florida county as “high.”
To be considered at a high rate of transmission, new cases per 100,000 in the past seven days needs to be greater than or equal to 100, or the percentage of positive tests in the last seven days is greater than or equal to 10%.
All four South Florida counties are miles ahead of this minimum.
From Dec. 29 to Jan. 4, Miami-Dade County had a case rate of 3,678 new cases per 100,000, according to the CDC. Broward County’s case rate is at 2,496. Palm Beach County’s case rate is at 1,656. Monroe County’s case rate is at 1,287.
From Dec. 27 to Jan. 2, Miami-Dade had a test positivity of 35.3%. Broward had a 38.4% positivity, Palm Beach is at 36% positivity and Monroe has a 32.8% positivity.
FLORIDA COVID VACCINE RATES
About 13,659,111 eligible Floridians — 63.6% 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 2,193,909 people, or 80.7% of the county’s total population, are fully vaccinated.
▪ In Broward County, about 1,327,001 people are fully vaccinated, or 68% of the county’s population.
▪ In Palm Beach County, about 951,448 people are fully vaccinated, or 63.6% of the county’s population.
▪ In Monroe County, about 55,544 people are fully vaccinated, or 74.8% of the county’s population.
▪ In Manatee County, about 238,668 people are fully vaccinated, or 59.2% of the county’s population.
COVID-19 hospitalizations in Florida
There were 7,647 people hospitalized for COVID-19 in Florida, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Wednesday report. This data is reported from 236 Florida hospitals. The number of people hospitalized across the state is 733 more than the day prior, when 230 hospitals reported.
COVID-19 patients take up 14.06% of all inpatient beds in the latest report, compared to 12.72% among Tuesday’s reporting hospitals.
Omicron, so far, is not as deadly as delta’s surge last summer. Hospitalizations are approaching records set during delta’s wave from July through September.
At delta’s August peak, more than 15,000 people were hospitalized in Florida, with over 25% of all inpatient beds being filled by COVID patients, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
Of the people hospitalized in Florida, 866 were in intensive-care units, an increase of 88 from Tuesday. That represents about 13.81% of the state’s ICU beds, compared to 12.50% the previous day.
Wednesday’s Miami-Dade County report said there were 1,884 COVID patients in the county’s hospitals on Tuesday, an increase of 135 from the previous day. Of the 374 new COVID patients, 271 (72.46%) had not been vaccinated. Intensive care patients numbered 214, an increase of 25 from a day earlier.
Broward County’s Wednesday report said there were 1,209 COVID patients in the county’s hospitals, an increase of 44 patients compared to the day before.
This story was originally published January 5, 2022 at 3:25 PM with the headline "Florida COVID update: 59,487 new cases added to state toll, hospital patients increase."
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