South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
State reports 6,277 new cases
Florida reported 6,277 new cases of
COVID-19 on Saturday, along with 81 new deaths, as the postivity rate jumped back up by nearly a full percentage point.
The new cases lifted the state’s total to
985,297, according to the Florida Department of Health. The total death toll including residents and non-residents is now
18,677.
Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, there were no daily COVID-19 case numbers issued by the state department of health on Thursday.
The state resumed its reports on Friday and reported over 17,000 new cases.
The majority of that caseload was made
up of Wednesday’s reported figures, which included 10,132 new cases — the most since July 25.
Going into the weekend, local officials had been concerned about rising case totals as travelers flocked to South Florida airports and shoppers headed for malls in search of holiday deals.
South Florida
Broward County: 793 additional cases and four more deaths. Broward has a known total of 105,877 cases and 1,681 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.
Palm Beach County: 370 additional cases and two more deaths. The county now has 64,670 confirmed cases and 1,702 deaths.
Miami-Dade County:
1,466 additional cases and
24 new deaths. The county now has 225,632 confirmed cases and 3,846 deaths.
Testing and positivity rates
Public health experts say the virus is considered under control when the
COVID-19 test positivity rate is under 5%. Florida exceeds 5% by both of its measures of assessing the rate for testing of residents.
In the first calculation, the state reported a daily positivity rate of 7.14%, up from 6.18% the day before, a
15.5% increase. This method of calculating positivity counts new infections only, but also counts repeat negative tests, which skews the figure downward.
According to the state, Wednesday’s new case numbers reflect the results of 97,769 COVID-19 tests of Florida residents received from labs in the past day, down from 120,620 results reported Friday.
In the second calculation, which includes retests of people who were previously diagnosed, the statewide daily positivity rate is
8.98% based on the latest results for 97,769 residents. That’s up from 8.09% the previous day.
Broward County: Test results for 10,073 residents were reported Saturday, leading to a daily positivity rate of 7.53%. That’s up from
6.17% the previous day. Palm Beach County: Test results for 5,952 residents were reported on Saturday, leading to a daily positivity rate of 5.54%, down from 5.59% the previous day.
Miami-Dade County: Test results for 16,228 residents were reported Saturday, leading to a daily positivity rate of 8.29%, up from 7.04% the previous day.
Deaths
Statewide: The state’s pandemic data report shows a total of 18,442 Floridians have died from COVID-19. In addition, 235 non-residents have died, bringing the total number of deaths in the state to 18,677.
Florida has the fourth-highest total of COVID-19 deaths among the states, behind New York, Texas and California, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Florida’s death rate since the pandemic began ranks
14th in the nation, tied with South Carolina, at 86 deaths per 100,000 people, the CDC reports. That’s higher than the national rate of 80 deaths per 100,000.
Long-term-care facilities: At least 7,257 residents and staff have died at nursing homes and assisted-living centers throughout Florida as of Saturday, up
24 from the previous day’s report.
Miami-Dade County reported the highest number of resident and staff deaths at long-term-care facilities, with 862. Palm Beach County was second with 755. Broward has reported 466 deaths. Only Miami-Dade County’s toll increased, with two additional deaths.
The numbers for the other two counties remained the same.
Hospitalizations
As of Saturday at 2 p.m., there were 3,908 people hospitalized in Florida with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, according to the state Agency for Health Care
Administration, an increase of 160 patients since the last report on Friday.
In South Florida, Broward County reported 394, an increase of 16; Palm Beach County had 285, a decrease of two; and Miami-Dade continued to have the most in the state with 598, an increase of 27.
Hospitalizations hit a peak in late July of about 9,500 patients statewide.
Since the pandemic began, 54,591 residents have been hospitalized for the disease, according to the state health department.
National and global view
U.S.: Over 13.1 million people in the United States have been infected with the novel coronavirus and
265,146 have died as of Saturday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University’s
COVID-19 dashboard. World: More than 61.9 million people have tested positive for COVID-19 and
1.44 million people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins says. The U.S. has had the most COVID-19 cases and deaths of any country. The U.S. has 4.3% of the world’s population, but
20.83% of the world’s cases and 18.5% of the world’s deaths.