Florida COVID update: Rolling 7-day case average decreases for first time in 26 days
Florida on Thursday reported 66,611 additional COVID-19 cases and 80 more deaths to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to Miami Herald calculations of CDC data.
The large increases come 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.
In the past seven days, as the omicron version of the virus has circulated, the state has added 20 deaths and 56,611 cases per day on average, according to Herald calculations. This is the first time the rolling seven-day case average has decreased since Dec. 10., when the average was 1,700. On Wednesday, the average was 58,216.
All but 10 of the newly reported cases — about 99.9% — occurred since Dec. 9, according to the Miami Herald analysis.
Of the deaths added, about 90% of the newly reported have died in the past two weeks, the analysis showed.
In all, Florida has recorded at least 4,486,276 confirmed COVID cases and 62,622 deaths.
FLORIDA COVID VACCINE RATES
About 13,659,557 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 2,193,942 people, or 80.8% of the county’s total population, are fully vaccinated.
▪ In Broward County, about 1,327,019 people are fully vaccinated, or 68% of the county’s population.
▪ In Palm Beach County, about 951,473 people are fully vaccinated, or 63.6% of the county’s population.
▪ In Monroe County, about 55,545 people are fully vaccinated, or 74.8% of the county’s population.
▪ In Manatee County, about 238,671 people are fully vaccinated, or 59.2% of the county’s population.
COVID-19 hospitalizations in Florida
There were 8,406 people hospitalized for COVID-19 in Florida, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Thursday report. This data is reported from 260 hospitals in Florida. The number of people hospitalized across the state is 759 more than the day prior, when 236 hospitals reported.
COVID-19 patients take up 14.45% of all inpatient beds in the latest report, compared to 14.06% among Wednesday’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, 943 were in intensive-care units, an increase of 77 from Wednesday. That represents about 14.95% of the state’s ICU beds, compared to 13.81% the previous day.
Thursday’s Miami-Dade County report said there were 1,974 COVID patients in the county’s hospitals on Wednesday, an increase of 90 from the previous day. Of the 364 new COVID patients, 249 (68.41%) had not been vaccinated. Intensive care patients numbered 237, an increase of 23 from a day earlier.
Broward County’s Thursday report said there were 1,218 COVID patients in the county’s hospitals, an increase of nine patients compared to the day before.
This story was originally published January 6, 2022 at 1:15 PM with the headline "Florida COVID update: Rolling 7-day case average decreases for first time in 26 days."
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