MIAMI — Florida’s Department of Health on Wednesday confirmed 17,783 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the state’s known total to 1,409,906, the third-highest in the country, after California and Texas, according to the New York Times database of U.S. cases.
That 17,783 number also is the highest single-day total released since the pandemic began and equals the 17,000 range reported in two-day totals the days after Thanksgivings and Christmas.
Also, 129 new resident deaths were announced, bringing the resident death toll to 22,317. Three new non-resident deaths were also announced, bringing the non-resident toll to 330. The total deaths recorded in the state are 22,317, the fourth-highest in the country, after New York, Texas and California, according to the Times database.
The state tested 138,528 people on Tuesday, the third day to see more than 100,000 tested after the holidays temporarily shut some testing sites. Percent positivity has stayed above 12% for the fourth consecutive day — 12.54% in Wednesday’s report.
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 9 a.m. Wednesday, there were 7,319 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 Wednesday’s hospitalizations, 1,062 were in Miami-Dade, 597 in Broward, 426 in Palm Beach and four in Monroe, according to the agency.
The state has had a total of 64,321 Florida residents hospitalized for COVID-19-related complications, according to Florida’s COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard.
Testing in Florida has seen steady growth since the COVID-19 crisis began.
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 Wednesday, Florida’s Department of Health reported the results of 138,528 people tested on Tuesday. The positivity rate of new cases (people who tested positive for the first time) decreased from 12.74% to 12.54%
