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.
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 Florida hospitals. 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-19 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.
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