State reports 1,838 new COVID-19 infections

The Florida Department of Health reported 1,838 new coronavirus cases and 22 new fatalities on Monday

To date, 648,269 people have been infected statewide, and 11,871 residents have died from the virus. With 152 non-resident fatalities, the combined toll is 12,023.

Monday’s numbers reflect a decline in reported cases and deaths as Sunday’s numbers tracked 2,564 new coronavirus cases and 38 new fatalities, according to the Florida Department of Health.

However, there is a lag time between the date of death, and the date it is announced.

Daily figures reported by the state could include cases that are weeks old, including Monday’s newly reported deaths, which occurred over several days past, sometimes as much as a month earlier.

The week ending Aug. 16 marked the highest number of fatalities reported in a single week at the time with 1,266 deaths posted by the state.

The state has reported more than 100 actual deaths per day from July 7-Aug. 14.

The Florida Department of Health hasn’t reported a daily increase above 10,000 infections since July 25. Tuesday saw a spike of 7,569 newly reported cases due to a Quest Diagnostics data dump that included tests up to five months old.

Aside from that bump, state cases totals have been dropping since the high of 15,300 reported positive COVID-19 results on July 12, and the DOH has not reported more than 5,000 every day since Aug. 15 until Tuesday’s report.

Florida saw the most cases reported in a single week back in mid-July, with over 80,000 recorded the week ending July 19. Since then, nearly 300,000 new cases have been reported.

Over 4.8 million people have been tested in Florida. Testing declined statewide in August, which saw an average of about 32,000 daily tests, compared with July, with about 54,400 daily.

Statewide, the latest positivity rate reported by the Florida Department of Health was 4.55%, but that’s for new cases only and excludes anyone who previously tested positive. For all cases including retests of those previously infected, the latest positivity rate is 6.35%.

Central Florida passed the 100,000 mark on Saturday.

The region accounts for about 16% of the cases statewide and about 15% of the deaths.

On Monday, Central Florida added 298 cases for a total of 101,283: there were 78 new cases in Orange for 37,152; 64 in Polk for 17,863; 25 in Osceola for 11,542; 44 in Volusia for 9,816; 21 in Seminole for 8,382; 23 in Brevard for 7,656; 37 in Lake for 6,824; and 6 in Sumter for 2,048.

Central Florida had one newly reported death for Monday in Polk County. The region’s toll is now 1,787.

Polk County, due to nursing-home outbreaks, has the most coronavirus fatalities in the region with 469, followed by 387 in Orange, 235 in Brevard, 197 in Volusia, 182 in Seminole, 133 in Osceola, 129 in Lake, and 55 in Sumter.

COVID -19 hospitalizations have been steadily falling from mid-July highs over 8,000. Across the state, 3,144 people were hospitalsurcaseized with COVID-19 as of 12 p.m. Monday. That includes 150 patients in Orange County, 57 in Osceola, 52 in Seminole and 56 in Lake County.

The state’s online tool updates several times throughout the day.

To date, 40,083 people have been hospitalized in Florida, the s t a t e ’s COVID -19 dashboard shows. But those numbers could include cases that are weeks old.

South Florida, home to 29% of Florida’s population, accounts for about 43% of cases with 278,250 total.

That includes 527 new cases reported Monday among Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties.

South Florida’s reported deaths on Monday rose to 10 for a total of 5,046, about 43% of the state’s total.

The virus has infected over 27.1 million people and has killed about 890,000 worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University & Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center. Nationwide, over 6.2 million people have been infected and over 188,000 are dead.