Florida COVID update: Fewest deaths and cases this year, and 1.08 million are fully vaccinated
The Florida Department of Health’s COVID-19 dashboard reported 5,436 new cases and 96 deaths, the lowest number in each category this calendar year.
Though this is the Sunday of a holiday weekend, which means even less data collection and entry than a normal Sunday, there have been holiday weekend Sundays since the last days with fewer cases (Nov. 16, 4,663) and fewer total deaths (Dec. 27, 77). This is the first day under 100 total deaths since Dec. 28 (99).
About the only number on the state level that didn’t look better was current hospitalizations, which reversed its month-long trend with a one-day spike.
For the novel coronavirus pandemic, Florida has had 1,827,373 cases, 28,779 resident deaths and 29,275 total deaths.
The state’s positive test rate, 6.97% on Saturday, averaged 6.64% over the last week, down from 7.51% for the previous seven days.
COVID VACCINES IN FLORIDA AND SOUTH FLORIDA
Florida: The state’s
● vaccination report says another 11,205 people received the first COVID vaccine dose Saturday and 18,121 received their second dose, meaning 1,273,651 people are halfway through the vaccine and 1,082,141 are fully vaccinated.
Miami-Dade County: The state reported 2,351 people completed their vaccinations Saturday, meaning 128,521 in MiamiDade have received both vaccination shots.
Broward: Another
● 1,193 people completed their vaccinations Saturday, putting Broward’s completed vaccine total at 106,300.
Palm Beach: After
●
1,109 people completed their vaccine treatment Saturday, 99,272 in Palm Beach County have received both shots.
Monroe: Saturday, 18 ● people completed their vaccine shot treatment Saturday. Overall, 4,915 have done so.
CONFIRMED COVID-19 CASES IN SOUTH FLORIDA
Miami-Dade County reported 1,129 more people who tested positive and, as mentioned above, 29 more COVID-19 deaths, putting its pandemic totals at 393,971 cases and 5,170 deaths.
The positive test rate on Saturday was 7.33%. For the week, the state’s county-by-county breakdown says the average daily positive test rate fell from 7.45% for Jan. 31 through Feb. 6 to 6.73% for Feb. 7 through Saturday.
Broward County reported another 663 cases and 17 deaths, moving its totals to 184,773 cases and 2,256 deaths.
Broward’s average daily positive test rate was 6.99% the last seven days. For the seven days previous to that, it was 7.59%. The positive test rate was 6.64% on Saturday.
Palm Beach County
● reported 384 new cases (114,467 for the pandemic) and zero deaths (2,322).
And the average daily positive test rate sat at 6.88% for the last seven days, down from 7.45% for the previous seven days. Saturday’s positive rate was 6.68%.
Monroe County reported
● 18 new cases and no deaths. Pandemic totals in the Keys are 5,580 cases and 42 deaths.
CURRENT HOSPITALIZATIONS
Government officials use current hospitalizations to decide the next action in dealing with the pandemic. On the state level, this has been steadily falling over the last month, although Sunday represented a hard interruption.
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.
As of 12:03 p.m. Sunday, the ACHA said there were 4,687 people currently hospitalized, a massive 544 person increase from 10:30 a.m. Saturday, but a 692person plummet from a week ago. But, South Florida’s counties saw only a slight increase overall: Miami-Dade down one Sunday to 738; Broward, down seven to 577; Palm Beach, up 13 to 337; and Monroe, up two to six.
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. , including the frequency of daily updates.
Sunday, Miami-Dade’s New Normal Dashboard said hospitals reported 811 COVID-19 patients, a drop of 15 from Saturday and a plunge of 95 from a week ago and 200 from 13 days previous. The number of patients in Intensive Care Unit Beds slid by six to 185, down 16 from a week ago.