Miami Herald

Florida adds 13,800 cases, the most since July

- BY MICHELLE MARCHANTE AND DEVOUN CETOUTE mmarchante@miamiheral­d.com dcetoute@miamiheral­d.com Michelle Marchante: 305-376-2708, @TweetMiche­lleM

Florida’s Department of Health on Wednesday confirmed 13,871 additional cases of COVID-19, the most reported since July. The state has now confirmed a total of 1,306,123 cases.

Also, 137 new resident deaths were announced, bringing the resident toll to 21,546. Two new nonresiden­t deaths were also announced, bringing the non-resident toll to 311.

Wednesday’s single-day case count is the most recorded since July 16, when 13,965 cases were added. That is if you exclude Nov. 27 and Dec. 26, when the state reported more than 17,000 cases because no reports were issued on Thanksgivi­ng or Christmas.

Following the highest spike in coronaviru­s percent positivity reaching the state’s peak, positivity plummeted to 8.72% from 22.81%, returning to the two-week trend of daily positivity ranging from 8.03% to 11.11%.

This in part has to do with 180,183 people being tested Tuesday, which is nearly triple the number tested when the spike occurred, and comes in as the second-highest day of testing in the last two weeks.

If retests are included, the positivity rate decreased from 26.32% to 10.03%.

This sudden drop in positivity and increase in testing also occurred in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, lowering the counties’ percent positiviti­es as well.

Miami-Dade County reported 2,748 additional cases and five new deaths, according to Florida’s Department of Health. The county has had 295,936 confirmed cases and 4,169 deaths. The positivity for new cases (people who tested positive for the first time) decreased from 24.04% to 6.95%. The 14-day positivity is at 9.60%, according to Mia

mi-Dade’s Moving to a New Normal Dashboard.

Broward County

● reported 1,456 additional cases and 10 new deaths. The county’s known total is at 136,038 cases and 1,840 deaths. The positivity for new cases decreased from 24.22% to

6.56%.

Palm Beach County

saw 509 additional cases and eight new deaths. The county has 81,899 confirmed cases and 1,881 deaths. The positivity for new cases decreased from 19.62% to 6.95%.

Monroe County con

firmed 15 additional cases and no new deaths. The county has a known total of 4,197 cases and 35 deaths. The positivity for new cases decreased from 9.60% to 3.38%.

As of 2:47 p.m. Wednesday, there were 6,298 COVID-19 patients admitted into hospitals throughout the state, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administra­tion dashboard. This number is at midAugust levels, when more than 5,000 COVID-19 patients were admitted into hospitals throughout the state.

Of Wednesday’s hospitaliz­ations, 579 were in Broward, 357 in Palm Beach and three in Monroe, according to the agency.

Miami-Dade hospitaliz­ations increased from 1,072 to 1,078, according to the county’s dashboard. According to Wednesday’s data, 170 people were discharged and 137 people were admitted.

The state has had a total of 62,508 Florida residents hospitaliz­ed for COVID-19-related complicati­ons, according to Florida’s COVID-19 Data and Surveillan­ce Dashboard.

 ?? DAVID SANTIAGO dsantiago@miamiheral­d.com ?? Drivers line up at the COVID-19 testing center at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens on Dec. 23. The state has confirmed a total of 1,306,123 cases and 21,546 resident deaths.
DAVID SANTIAGO dsantiago@miamiheral­d.com Drivers line up at the COVID-19 testing center at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens on Dec. 23. The state has confirmed a total of 1,306,123 cases and 21,546 resident deaths.

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