Fewest new cases in nearly three months

State reports 1,823 new infections; total passes 650K

Florida’s coronavirus report for Tuesday showed promising trends continue even as the state officially surpassed 650,000 cases of COVID-19 throughout the pandemic.

The state Department of Health reported 1,823 new infections of the infectious disease, which is the second straight day with fewer than 2,000 new cases based on people testing positive for the first time.

That hasn’t happened since June11-12, which is when Florida was beginning a surge of COVID-19 cases following Memorial Day weekend outbreaks. Tuesday’s total also is the lowest daily new

case total in nearly three months, records show.

Public health experts and government leaders are hopeful people were more careful over the Labor Day holiday weekend, so the state and nation don’t experience a new round of coronavirus outbreaks.

Tuesday’s report also shows 44 more Floridians have died from COVID-19. State officials have reported a total of12,067 virus deaths.

South Florida

Broward County: 130 new coronavirus caseswere reported Tuesday, bringing the total to 73,556. At least 1,260 people in Broward were reported to have died, 14 more than Monday’s total.

Palm Beach County: 122 new cases were reported Tuesday, bringing the total to 43,309.

A total of 1,188 deaths were reported, two more than the previous day.

Miami-Dade County: 389 new cases were reported Tuesday, bringing the total to 162,026. A total of 2,685 people in MiamiDadewere reported to have died from COVID-19. That’s eight more than Monday’s total.

Testing and positivity rate

As of Tuesday, more than 4.82 million people have been tested for COVID-19 statewide, producing an overall positivity rate of 13.48%, state data show. At least 650,092 people have tested positive; more than 4.16 million people have tested negative.

The latest state report shows the daily positivity rate at 4.96%, up from 4.54% the previous day. This figure reflects only new infections based on COVID-19 testing; it doesn’t count people who previously tested positive for the disease.

Statewide positivity has been hovering around 5% for more than two weeks — the level where public health experts say the virus is under control.

Hospitalizations

Since the pandemic began, a total of 40,195 residents have been hospitalized for the disease in the Florida, according to the Department ofHealth.

As of 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, 3,158 peoplewere hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19 across the state. Broward County reported 341 patients; Palm Beach County had 164; and Miami-Dade had 541, the most in the state.

Deaths

Statewide: The official COVID-19 report, updated Tuesday, shows 11,915 Florida resident deaths. In addition, 152 nonresidents have died in Florida since the pandemic began.

Long-term care facilities: At least 4,973 deaths have occurred among residents and staff of nursing homes and assistedliving centers throughout the state — 19 more than the total reportedMonday.