11,543 new cases, another 210 new resident deaths
Even as vaccinations roll out in Florida, a large number of new cases continue to be reported as well as a significant number of new deaths from COVID-19.
Florida reported 11,543 new coronavirus cases on Friday and another 210 new resident deaths linked to COVID-19. The state has now reported 1,763,873 cases since the pandemic began.
The seven-day average for new cases has been declining since January 8 but is well above counts seen in the fall months.
South Florida
South Florida reported 4,781 new cases on Friday, significantly more than the 3,480 new cases reported just three days ago.
Palm Beach County: 889 additional cases and 11 more deaths. The county now has 110,108 confirmed cases and 2,290 deaths, including 41 non-residents.
Broward County: 1,175 additional cases and 11 more deaths. Broward has a known total of 177,319 cases and 2,186 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. The death tally includes 36 non-residents.
Miami-Dade County: 2,717 additional cases and 22 new deaths. The county now has 380,716 confirmed cases and 4,996 deaths, including 32 non-residents.
Testing and positivity
Public health experts say the virus is considered under control when the COVID-19 test positivity rate is under 5%. But since Oct. 29, Florida has exceeded 5% in its widely publicized calculation for assessing the rate for testing of residents.
The state reported a daily positivity rate of 5.80% on Friday, down from 8.76% the day before. This method of calculating positivity counts new infections only, but also counts repeat negative tests, which skews the figure downward.
According to the state, the new reported case numbers reflect the results of 188,595 COVID-19 tests of Florida residents received from labs in the past day, up from 86,631 results reported the day before.
The positivity rate in all three of South Florida counties is now below 8%.
Palm Beach County: Test results for 14,181 residents were reported Friday, leading to a daily positivity rate of 5.96%. That’s down from 9.82% the previous day.
Broward County: Test results for 19,497 residents were reported Friday, leading to a daily positivity rate of 5.97%. That’s down from 9.36% the previous day.
Miami-Dade County: Test results for 32,646 residents were reported Friday, leading to a daily positivity rate of 7.30%. That’s down from 7.74% the previous day.
Deaths
The state’s pandemic data report shows a total of 27,457 Floridians have died from COVID-19. In addition, 456 non-residents have died after contracting the virus. Most of the fatalities reported
Friday happened over several weeks but were just confirmed in the past day.
Florida reported 210 additional deaths from COVID after reporting 228 more on Thursday.
Out of all 50 states and the District of Columbia, Florida ranks No. 25 for deaths per 100K residents and No. 24 for cases per 100K residents, according to the latest data from the health department and the COVID Tracking Project.
Hospitalizations
As of Friday, there were 5,425 people hospitalized in Florida with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, according to the state Agency for Health Care Administration.
In South Florida, Broward County reported 612, Palm Beach County had 375 and Miami-Dade had 830.
Hospitalizations hit a peak in late July of about 9,500 patients statewide, then dipped as low as 2,011 on Oct. 19. The numbers steadily increased throughout December but have been on a decline since mid-January.
Vaccines
As COVID vaccines roll out in Florida, 1,364,494 people have received their first dose or about 6.35% of the population.
So far, 478,236 people have completed the series of doses required to be vaccinated. That represents about 2.23% of the population.