Florida coronavirus cases pass 337,000; death toll hits 4,895
Florida’s Department of Health on Saturday confirmed 10,327 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the state’s total to 337,568. The number is a bit lower than Friday’s 11,466 cases. The record was 15,300 on July 12.
There were also 90 new Florida resident deaths announced, fewer than Friday’s 128, the first day in five in which that number was below 100 deaths a day. The statewide resident death toll is now 4,895.
Non-resident deaths announced in the state remains at 107.
COVID-19 CASES IN SOUTH FLORIDA
• Miami-Dade County reported 3,159 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and four new deaths, according to Florida’s Department of Health. The number of cases reported Friday was fewer at 2,442 but it had more deaths — 24. The county now has 81,026 confirmed cases and 1,274 deaths.
• Broward County reported 1,218 additional confirmed cases of the disease and 11 new deaths, a decline on both figures compared to Friday. The county now has 38,131 known cases and 488 deaths.
• Palm Beach County saw 684 additional confirmed cases and seven new deaths. Saturday’s case rise was larger than Friday’s but the deaths were lower by 14. The county now has 25,045 confirmed cases and 666 deaths.
• Monroe County reported 42 additional cases of the disease and no new deaths, a decline in new cases by 11 compared to Friday’s figure. The Florida Keys now have 810 confirmed cases and six deaths.
Here’s a breakdown on what you need to know:
COVID-19 HOSPITALIZATIONS IN FLORIDA
One of the tools that officials are relying on to determine whether the coronavirus situation is improving in the state is hospitalization data. Unlike testing, which might be limited or take days to report results, hospitalizations can help give officials a real-time snapshot of how many people are severely ill with COVID-19.
Last week, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration began reporting 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 only providing the total number of hospitalizations in its statewide and countylevel 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 noon Saturday, there were 9,156 COVID-19 patients admitted into hospitals throughout the state, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration dashboard.
Of those, 1,970 were in Miami-Dade, 1,221 in Broward, 591 in Palm Beach and 15 in Monroe County, according to the agency.
Florida’s current hospitalization data does not always match the hospitalization data reported in Miami-Dade’s “New Normal” dashboard. Jennifer Moon, deputy mayor of Miami-Dade told the Miami Herald last week that there may be a number of reasons why the county’s hospitalization data differs from the state’s.
She said these reasons include the frequency of daily updates, human error and whether the state’s agency is including in its data the patients who visited the emergency room for other urgent medical needs and tested positive for COVID after they are admitted.
On Saturday, Miami-Dade hospitalizations for COVID-19 complications rose to 2,158, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard. According to Saturday’s data, 206 people were discharged and 212 people were admitted.
The state has a total of 20,623 Florida residents hospitalized for COVID-19 related complications, according to Florida’s COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard. That figure represents a rise of 441 residents compared to Friday. 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.
The recommended number of daily tests needed varies among experts, but the dean of the University of South Florida’s College of Medicine told the governor that Florida needs to test about 33,000 people every day.
On Saturday, Florida’s Department of Health reported 51,275 new tests on Friday. The positive rate was 14.34% of the total, according to the report. In total, 3,600,738 tests have been conducted.
To date, 2,935,520 people have been tested in Florida. Of the total tested, 337,569 (about 12.17%) have tested positive. The state says there are 2,250 tests with pending results.
The state began adding antigen test results to Florida’s case totals earlier this month. Antigen tests are a new category of tests that detect fragments of proteins found in the virus by testing samples collected by nose swabs. The FDA authorized the first antigen COVID-19 tests in May.