2,385 new cases and 12 more dead
State health officials question integrity of reported fatality count
Florida’s much-watched coronavirus numbers took a downward turn Sunday, with the state reporting 2,385 new cases and 12 new deaths — including seven in Miami-Dade County.
Saturday’s numbers were higher, with the tally of new cases hitting 4,471 and the number of new deaths at 77.
Some experts have sounded the alarm in recent days, warning of the dangers of a second wave as nation sees a new spike in numbers.
In Florida, state health officials are questioning the integrity of the death tally because some doctors are reporting COVID-19 deaths up to three months after the patients tested positive.
The Florida Department of Health says it plans to review all deaths that have been linked to the disease so far to ensure the reporting is accurate.
Since the pandemic began, the state Department of Health has reported 778,636 cases of the highly contagious coronavirus.
State officials have reported 16,632 deaths as of Sunday, including 203 nonresidents who died in Florida.
Most of the deaths happened in recent weeks but were just confirmed in the past day.
Sunday’ s numbers still represent a sharp decline from the record number of 15,300 coronavirus cases reported on July 12.
The Department of Health said it collected 53,835 test results from labs on Saturday. By contrast, 127,379 results were collected the day before.
The state says 5.96 million people have been swabbed since the pandemic began and 5.17 million have tested negative.
The cumulative positivity rate for the state since the pandemic began stands at 13.06%, according to state records.
Worldwide, more than 1.15 million have died fromthe highly infectious corona virus, according to Johns Hopkins University’ s Corona virus Resource Center.
The U.S. has the highest number of deaths, with at least 224,995 as of 12:30 p.m. Sunday. More than 42.8 million people have tested positive for COVID-19 across the globe. That includes at least 8.59 million in the U.S.
The nation’s top infectious disease expert is now advocating a federal mask mandate.
“If people are not wearing masks, well then maybe we should be mandating it,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN on Friday.
En forcing such a mandate won’ t be easy, Fauci acknowledged.
“There’s going to be a difficulty enforcing it, but if everyone agrees that this is something that’s
important and they mandate it and everybody pulls togetherandsays, you know, we’re going to mandate it but let’s just do it, I think that would be a great idea to have everybodydoit uniformly,” he said.
Testing and positivity rates
According to one of the two different measures of daily C OVID - 19 positivity rates, the state is above the 5% level where public health experts say the virus is under control.
Florida Department of Health: The state reported a daily positivity rate of 4.71% on Sunday, up from 3.66% on Saturday and 3.98% on Friday. Florida’s method of calculating positivity counts new infections only, but also counts repeat negative tests.
Johns Hopkins University: This measure shows Florida’ s positivity rate at 6.2%. Unlike state data, JohnsHopkins University counts only first-time test takers in its positivity rate.
In recent days, Johns Hopkins posted a new disclaimer for its statewide data, noting “anomalies in testing data” and an ongoing evaluation “to ensure that we can present the most responsible and accurate view of state test positivity data.”
Broward County: Test results for 6,330 county residents were tallied on Saturday and reported Sunday, leading to a daily positivity rate of 4.55% for people with new infectionsonly. That’supfrom2.9% the previous day.
Palm Beach County: Test results for 4,046 county residents were tallied on Saturday, leading to a daily positivity rate of 5.14% for people with new infections only, up from2.67% the day before.
Miami Dade County: Test results for 9,114 county residents were tallied on Saturday, leading to a daily positivity rate of 3.43% for people with new infections only. That’s up from2.48% the previous day.
South Florida
Broward County: 285 additional confirmed coronavirus cases. The county has a known total of 83,450 cases and 1,549 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. The death tally includes 29 non-residents. No new deaths were reported on Sunday.
Palm Beach County: 209 additional cases of COVID-19. The county now has 50,525 confirmed cases and 1,585 deaths, including 24 non-residents. No additional deaths were reported Sunday.
Miami-Dade County: 309additional confirmed cases of COVID19 and seven more deaths. The county now has 181,942confirmed cases and 3,633 deaths, including 21 non-residents.
Hospitalizations
Hospitals are reporting an up tick in COVID-19 patients across the state, records show.
As of 1 p.m. Sunday, 2,219 people across the state were hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, up from 2,163 on Saturday and 2,115 on Friday.
In South Florida, Broward County reported 189 patients hospitalized, a decrease of 13 from the previous day; Palm Beach County had 134, an increase of six; and Miami-Dade had the most in the state with 295 people hospitalized, an increase of eight.
The online report fromthe state Agency for Health Care Administration updates several times throughout the day. Hospitalizations hi tape akin late July of about 9,500 patients.
Since the pandemic began, 48,207 residents have been hospitalized for the disease since the start of the outbreak, state health officials say. That’s another 80 people who’ve been hospitalized in the past day.
Deaths
Statewide: Sunday’s report shows a total of 16,429 Florida resident deaths. In addition, 203 non-resident deaths have been attributed to the virus.
Florida’s COVID-19 death rate since the pandemic began is ninth among states, tied with Illinois, at 76 deaths per 100,000 people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’ s higher than the national rate of 68 deaths per 100,000.
Long-term-care facilities: At least 6,642 deaths have occurred among residents and staff at nursing homes and assisted-living centers throughout Florida. That’s one additional death in the past day.
Miami-Dade County has reported the highest number of deaths at long-term-care facilities, with 839. Palm Beach County is second with 713. Broward has reported 442 deaths.
National and global view
U.S.: More than 8.59 million people in the country have been infected with the novel corona virus and 224,995 have died as of 12:30 p.m. Sunday, according to Johns Hopkins University’ s Corona virus Resource Center.
World: At least 42.8 million people have tested positive for COVID-19 and 1,151,837 people have died from the disease, according to Johns Hopkins. The U.S. has had the most COVID-19 cases and deaths of any country. TheU.S. has 4.3% of theworld’s population, but 20.07% of the world’s cases and 19.53% of theworld’s deaths.
Other countries with high COVID-19 death tolls include Brazil with 156,903, India with 118,534, Mexico with 88,743 and the United Kingdom with 44,986.