MIAMI — On Friday, Florida reported 19,530 new COVID-19 cases, 24 hours after reporting a record high single-day number of COVID-19 cases of 19,816 on Thursday.
Friday’s report by the Florida Department of Health brought the state’s known total of novel coronavirus cases to 1,449,252, the third-highest in the country, after California and Texas, according to the New York Times database of U.S. cases.
Also, 185 new resident deaths were announced, bringing the state’s resident death toll to 22,666. The health department announced nine new non-resident deaths, raising the non-resident death toll to 345.
The total COVID-19 deaths recorded in the state as of Friday were 23,011 the fourth-highest in the country, after New York, Texas and California, according to the Times database.
According to the state’s COVID-19 vaccine report, 443,616 people have been vaccinated in Florida through Thursday — with 24,200 people completing the series of two doses of either Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.
Confirmed COVID-19 Cases in South Florida
—Miami-Dade County reported 3,440 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 35 new deaths, according to Florida’s Department of Health. The county has a total of 321,555 confirmed cases and 4,332 deaths, the most in the state. Percent positivity for new cases decreased from 10.21% to 10.20%. The 14-day percent positivity average was 11.31%, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” Dashboard.
—Broward County reported 1,743 additional confirmed cases and six new deaths. The county has a known total of 147,944 cases and 1,903 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases decreased from 10% to 9.81%.
—Palm Beach County saw 1,206 additional confirmed cases and 10 new deaths. The county now has 90,058 confirmed cases and 1,943 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases decreased from 10.25% to 9.76%.
—Monroe County confirmed 54 additional cases and no new deaths. The county has a known total of 4,583 cases and 36 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases decreased from 9.78% to 8.35%.
COVID-19 hospitalizations in Florida
One of the tools that officials rely on to determine whether the coronavirus situation is improving in the state is hospitalization data. Unlike testing, which might be limited or takes days to report results, hospitalizations can help give officials a real-time snapshot of how many people are severely ill with COVID-19.
The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration reports the number of patients hospitalized statewide with a “primary diagnosis of COVID.” The data, which is updated at least every hour, does not distinguish between the number of COVID-19 patients in hospital intensive care units and those in acute-care beds, which require less attention from nurses.
Previously, the state was providing only the total number of hospitalizations in its statewide and county-level data. Miami-Dade was an exception, with hospitals self-reporting a number of key metrics, including hospitalizations, to the county, which has made this data public for several months.
As of 5:02 p.m. Friday, there were 7,409 COVID-19 patients admitted into hospitals throughout the state, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration dashboard. This number is at mid-August levels, when more than 7,000 COVID-19 patients were admitted daily into hospitals throughout the state.
Of Friday’s hospitalizations, 1,0599 were in Miami-Dade, 608 in Broward, 421 in Palm Beach and three in Monroe, according to the agency.
Florida’s current hospitalization data do not always match the hospitalization data reported in Miami-Dade’s “New Normal” dashboard. Officials say this could be for a number of reasons, including the frequency of daily updates.
On Friday, Miami-Dade hospitalizations for COVID-19 complications increased from 1,133 to 1,141, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard. According to Friday’s data, 162 people were discharged and 119 people were admitted.
The state has had a total of 65,063 Florida residents hospitalized for COVID-19-related complications, according to Florida’s COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard.
COVID-19 Testing in Florida
Testing in Florida has seen steady growth since the COVID-19 crisis began.
Testing, like hospitalizations, helps officials determine the virus’ progress and plays a role in deciding whether it is safe to lift stay-at-home orders and loosen restrictions.
Epidemiologists use the testing data to create a positivity rate. The rate helps them determine if a rise in cases is because of an increase in testing or whether there’s increased transmission of the virus in the community.
On Friday, Florida’s Department of Health reported the results of 168,052 people tested on Thursday. The positivity rate of new cases (people who tested positive for the first time) decreased from 11.60% to 11.43%.
If retests are included, the positivity rate increased from 13.14% to 13.19%%.
