Florida COVID update: State breaks 7-day case average record as 69,914 cases added
Florida reported 69,914 COVID-19 cases and three new deaths Friday, according to Saturday’s report to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based on Miami Herald calculations of CDC data.
New cases are down from Friday when 76,887 were reported, the largest single-day increase since the pandemic began.
In all, Florida has recorded at least 4,633,077 confirmed COVID cases and 62,628 deaths.
In the past seven days, as the omicron version of the virus circulates, the state has added 21 deaths and 58,607 cases per day on average, according to Herald calculations of CDC data. That rolling seven-day case average is the highest it’s ever been.
South Florida Sees High Rate of Transmission
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 these standards.
From Jan. 1 to Jan. 7, Miami-Dade County had a case rate of 4,065 new cases per 100,000, up from 3,678 cases a week before, according to the CDC. Broward County’s case rate during this period was 2,573, up from 2,496. Palm Beach County’s case rate was 1,947, up from 1,656. Monroe County’s was 2,336, up from 1,287.
From Dec. 30 to Jan. 5, Miami-Dade had a test positivity rate of 35.4%. Broward had a 38.3% positivity rate, Palm Beach, 37.8%, and Monroe, 38.4%.
FLORIDA COVID VACCINE RATES
About 13,693,288 eligible Floridians — 63.8% 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, 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 2,199,942 people, or 81% of the county’s total population, are fully vaccinated.
▪ In Broward County, about 1,330,618 people are fully vaccinated, or 68.1% of the county’s population.
▪ In Palm Beach County, about 953,508 people are fully vaccinated, or 63.7% of the county’s population.
▪ In Monroe County, about 55,661 people are fully vaccinated, or 75% of the county’s population.
▪ In Manatee County, about 239,175 people are fully vaccinated, or 59.3% of the county’s population.
COVID-19 hospitalizations in Florida
There were 9,416 people hospitalized for COVID-19 in Florida, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Saturday report. This data is reported from 264 hospitals in Florida. The number of people hospitalized across the state is 502 more than the day prior.
COVID-19 patients take up 16.25% of all inpatient beds in the latest report, compared to 15.46% among Friday’s reporting hospitals.
Omicron, so far, is not as deadly as delta’s surge last summer. But Florida 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, 1,111 were in intensive-care units, an increase of 106 from Friday. That represents about 17.94% of the state’s ICU beds, compared to 16.19% the previous day.
This story was originally published January 8, 2022 at 1:08 PM with the headline "Florida COVID update: State breaks 7-day case average record as 69,914 cases added."
%20Cropped%20(2).jpg)