FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ Florida's Department of Health on Saturday reported the deaths of another 204 residents from COVID-19, raising the state's coronavirus pandemic toll to almost 9,500 fatalities.
Also, at least 6,352 more people have been infected, pushing the overall total to nearly 570,000 cases, according to the latest official data.
Those daily totals don't reflect results from the past 24 hours, but rather several days and even weeks for COVID-19 death confirmations.
But Florida's data show an improvement from negative trends last month. The state has been as high as 15,300 cases, but has not had over 10,000 cases since July 25.
Public health experts said they expected the state's death toll to climb because of a surge of infections last month. The state has now reported more than 200 deaths on four of the past five days. And the daily average over the past seven days has been a reported 177 deaths.
The daily COVID-19 testing positivity rate over the past two weeks has ranged from 11.9% to 7.7%, and was 7.7% based on Friday's test results, records show. The state processed 96,167 results over the previous day. In total, 4.2 million people in the state have been tested for the virus.
But officials say that high one-day positivity figure, reported Wednesday, was due to a seven-week backlog of over 4,000 cases dumped into the system. If those cases are excluded, the positivity rate for that day drops to 9.35%.
Public health experts say the positivity rate shows the prevalence of the disease in the population. The World Health Organization had advised governments that before reopening, the rate should remain at 5% or lower for at least 14 days.
South Florida, which accounts for 29% of Florida's population, reported 2,714 new cases in the past day, or 42.7% of the daily total for the state.
TESTING AND POSITIVITY RATE
A total of 4.2 million people have been swabbed in Florida since the pandemic began, producing a positivity rate of 13.5%. The state reports that 3.63 million people have tested negative. At the end of May, Florida's positivity rate was about 5.6%.
In South Florida, the positivity rates on Saturday were 7.2% for Broward, a drop from Friday's 7.5%; 10.7% for Miami-Dade, down from 10.9%; and 6.2% for Palm Beach County, down from 6.6% the prior day. All three counties have experienced declines in positivity; Miami-Dade was at 20% on July 15.
The most recent data concerning infections among children under age 18 show 58,630 were tested for COVID-19 statewide from Aug. 1 through Friday. About 14.1% of them, or 8,250, have tested positive. The data also show 89 children were treated in hospitals, and none died, in the past two weeks.
South Florida has 3,855 of the cases involving children from the past two weeks. That includes: 2,198 cases in Miami-Dade County, highest in the state, with an 18.7% positivity; 1,193 in Broward, with a 15% positivity rate; and 464 in Palm Beach County, and a 12.6% positivity.
Since the start of the pandemic, Florida has counted 45,160 cases statewide involving children, with 557 hospitalizations and seven deaths. Those fatalities include: an 11-year-old girl from Broward, listed July 2; an 11-year-old boy from Miami-Dade, listed July 1; and a 16-year-old Miami-Dade girl on July 6. The youngest victim was a 9-year-old Putnam County girl, reported July 18.
HOSPITALIZATIONS
Across the state, 5,726 people were hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19 as of 12:30 p.m. Saturday. The state's online report updates several times throughout the day.
The number of people in hospitals for COVID-19 has been declining in August as has the number of people in intensive care units. The total hospitalized for the disease two weeks ago was nearly 9,000.
In South Florida, 2,241 people were hospitalized as of midday Saturday. Broward County reported 742 patients hospitalized, Palm Beach County had 360, and Miami-Dade had 1,139, the most in the state.
Only three days ago, Broward County hospitals had 885 patients with the virus, Palm Beach County had 421 and Miami-Dade had 1,368, according to the state Agency for Health Care Administration.
DEATHS
Statewide: The official COVID-19 death total for Florida reached 9,480 on Saturday. That figure includes 135 people who were not residents. The daily deaths reported often lag the actual date of death by several weeks.
COVID-19 is the state's deadliest infectious disease. Throughout 2019, there were 2,703 deaths attributed to the flu and pneumonia in Florida, records show.
Seniors: At least 3,944 deaths have occurred among residents and staff of nursing homes and long-term care facilities, a figure that represents 42.2% of the state total for coronavirus deaths of residents.
Nationwide: Florida's death rate ranks 16th in the United States when compared with other states and the District of Columbia, with 43 deaths per 100,000 people, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control's COVID Data Tracker.
The CDC does not list a death rate for New York State that includes New York City. The data for just New York City, the nation's original coronavirus epicenter, shows 281 deaths per 100,000 people. For New York State, excluding the city, it's 80 deaths per 100,000.
Texas has 33 deaths per 100,000, and California has 28. California and Texas are the most populous states, followed by Florida and New York.
GLOBAL VIEW
Worldwide: The novel coronavirus has infected almost 21.3 million people and has killed at least 767,241 worldwide as of about 12:30 p.m. Saturday, according to the Johns Hopkins University & Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center.
U.S.: The United States has over 5.3 million cases, the highest total in the world, and at least 168,761 people are dead, the most fatalities of any country. The U.S. has 4.3% of the world's population, but 25.1% of the world's cases and 22% of the world's deaths.
Other countries with high COVID-19 death tolls are Brazil with over 106,500 victims, Mexico with over 55,900, the United Kingdom with almost 46,800, India with over 49,000, and Italy with over 35,300.
