In state, deaths from COVID-19 passes 12,000
Florida officials on Wednesday reported that 200 more residents have died from COVID-19 illness, pushing the pandemic total to 12,115 deaths.
The Department of Health’s toll also shows 154 nonresidents have died in the state fromthe infectious disease.
At least 5,227 people have died from COVID-19 complications in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. Put another way, South Florida, home to 29% of the state’s population, accounts for 43% of the state’s coronavirus deaths.
Florida’s report for Wednesday lists 2,056 new infections, which is about the same total on daily tallies all week and continuing a downward trend over the past four weeks.
Tuesday’s total of 1,823 cases was the lowest in nearly three months, records show.
Public health experts and government leaders are holding their breath that gatherings over the Labor Day holiday weekend don’t lead to another spike in coronavirus cases.
Data reports released by the state each day reflect COVID-19 fatalities in recent weeks, but just confirmed in the past 24hours. Positive test results also take days to appear.
Wednesday’s report marked the first time since Aug. 18 that the state reported 200 or more deaths on itsdailydata. Thisweek, the state reported 38 deaths on Sunday, 22 on Monday and 44 on Tuesday.
South Florida
Broward County: 140 new coronavirus cases were reportedWednesday, bringing the total to 73,696. At least 1,270 people in Broward were reported to have died, 10 more than Tuesday’s total.
Palm Beach County: 113 new cases were reported Wednesday, bringing the total to 43,422. A total of 1,197 deaths were reported, nine more than the previous day.
Miami-Dade County: 407 new cases were reported Wednesday, bringing the total to 162,433. A total of 2,760 people in Miami-Dadewere reported to have died from COVID-19. That’s 75 more than Tuesday’s total.
Testing
As of Wednesday, more than 4.83 million people have been tested for COVID-19 statewide, producing an overall positivity rate of 13.48%, state data show. At least 652,148 people have tested positive; more than 4.17 million people have tested negative.
The latest state report shows the daily positivity rate at 5.94%, up from 4.94% 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 twoweeks— the level where public health experts say the virus is under control.
In South Florida, the overall positivity rates are 19.18% for Miami-Dade County, 14% for Broward County, and 12.86% for Palm Beach County.
The daily positivity rates reported on Wednesday were 4.26% for Broward County, up from 3.82% the previous day; 5.93% for Palm Beach County, up from 4.91%; and 6.25% for Miami-Dade County, up from5.44%.
Wednesday’s data report shows test results for 44,063 Florida residents, up from 40,894 results reported the previous day.
Hospitalizations
Since the pandemic began, a total of 40,517 residents have been hospitalized for the disease in Florida, according to the Department ofHealth.
As of 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, 3,075 peoplewere hospitalized with a primary diagnosis ofCOVID-19 across the state. Broward County reported 332 patients; Palm Beach County had 158; and Miami-Dade had 535, the most in the state.
The online report from the stateAgency forHealth Care Administration updates several times throughout the day. Hospitalizations have been declining since they hit a peak in late July.
Deaths
Statewide: The official COVID-19 report, updated Wednesday, shows 12,115 Florida resident deaths. In addition, 154 nonresidents have died in Florida since the pandemic began.
Long-term care facilities: At least 5,035 deaths have occurred among residents and staff of nursing homes and assisted-living centers throughout the state — 62 more than the total reported Tuesday.
Miami-Dade County has the highest number of people who died at the facilities, with 742; Palm Beach County has reported 507 deaths, and Broward has had 370 deaths.