Florida sees 9,085 more cases and 79 deaths for the second day in a row
Florida’s Department of Health on Friday confirmed 9,085 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the state’s known total to 923,418, the third highest number in the country after Texas and California, according to the New York Times database of cases.
Also, the state announced 79 resident deaths, bringing the resident death toll to 17,889.
This is the exact number of cases and deaths the state reported on Thursday, a rare coincidence in coronavirus data since Florida began releasing daily reports in March.
On Friday, the cumulative non-resident toll increased by one from Thursday. The toll is now 221 deaths.
The state’s confirmed COVID cases, deaths and hospitalizations have been spiraling upward over the past 14 days, with the number of new cases shooting up by 55 percent during this time period, the number of deaths up by 40 percent and the number of people hospitalized increasing by 34 percent, according to the New York Times database.
CONFIRMED COVID-19 CASES IN SOUTH FLORIDA
Miami-Dade County
reported 2,091 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and eight new deaths, according to Florida’s Department of Health. The number of new cases in Miami-Dade has soared over the past 14 days, jumping 88 percent from the 1,110 cases recorded on Friday, Nov. 6, according to the state health department.
The county has a total of 211,257 confirmed cases and 3,746 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases increased Friday from 8.10% to 8.66%. The 14day percent positivity average was 8.00%, while the seven-day percent positivity average was 7.76%, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” Dashboard.
Broward County
reported 943 additional confirmed cases and four new deaths. The county now has a known total of 99,320 cases and 1,615 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases increased from 6.84% to 7.62%.
Palm Beach County
● saw 510 additional confirmed cases and three new deaths. The county now has 60,729 confirmed cases and 1,647 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases decreased from
7.19% to 6.64%.
Monroe County con
● firmed 99 additional cases and no new deaths. The county has a known total of 3,064 cases and holds at 25 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases increased from 11.78% to 20.38%.
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 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 3:16 p.m. Friday, there were 3,439
COVID-19 patients admitted into hospitals throughout the state, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration dashboard. This is a decrease from early August, when more than 5,000 COVID-19 patients were admitted into hospitals throughout the state, but the hospitalization numbers have been rising with the higher case counts.
Two weeks ago, on Nov. 6, the number of COVID-19 patients admitted in hospitals throughout the state was 2,564.
Of Friday’s hospitalizations, 468 were in Miami-Dade, 320 in Broward, 238 in Palm Beach and nine in Monroe, according to the agency.
Florida’s current hospitalization data does 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 569 to 585, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard. According to Friday’s data, 91 people were discharged and 94 people were admitted.
The state has had a total of 53,091 Florida residents hospitalized for COVID-19related 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 128,930 people tested on Thursday. The positivity rate of new cases (people who tested positive for the first time) increased from 7.56% to 7.64%.