Florida reports 4,237 new COVID-19 cases as fewer people get tested for virus
The number of new cases per day dropped slightly on Monday with COVID test results posted for 20,000 fewer people than the day prior. Florida reported 4,237 new coronavirus cases on Monday and another 32 new resident deaths linked to COVID-19. The state has now reported 2,173,138 cases since the pandemic began.
The seven-day average for new cases continued its upward climb on Monday. Health officials reported a seven-day average for Florida of 6,756 cases compared with 5,791 a week ago. In early January, the seven-day average for new cases had climbed as high as 17,991.
South Florida
South Florida counties reported 1,730 new cases Monday, the fewest in a month. July 2020 was the worst month for cases.
Palm Beach County: 232 additional cases and 6 more deaths. The county now has 139,199 confirmed cases and 2,775 deaths, including 52 non-residents.
Broward County: 571 additional cases and 1 more death. Broward has a known total of 229,073 cases and 2,831 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. The death tally includes 47 non-residents.
Miami-Dade County: 927 additional cases and 5 new deaths. The county now has 471,595 confirmed cases and 6,093 deaths, including 44 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 7.90% on Monday, down from 8.68% 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, newly reported case numbers reflect the results of 54,313 COVID-19 tests of Florida residents received from labs in the past day, down from 74,581 results reported the day before.
The positivity rate has been rising in South Florida counties and is now between 7% and 8%.
Palm Beach County: Test results for 3,122 residents were reported Monday, leading to a daily positivity rate of 7.50%. That’s down from 8.24% the previous day.
Broward County: Test results for 7,343 residents were reported Monday, leading to a daily positivity rate of 8.02%. That’s up from 7.38% the previous day.
Miami-Dade County: Test results for 13,572 residents were reported Monday, leading to a daily positivity rate of 7.12%. That’s down from 10.36% the previous day.
Deaths
The numbers of new COVID deaths in Florida per day has been inconsistent, but the overall death toll has surpassed 35,000.
The state’s pandemic data report shows a total of 34,471 Floridians have died from COVID-19. In addition, 671 non-residents have died after contracting the virus. Most of the fatalities reported Monday happened over several weeks but were just confirmed in the past day.
Out of all 50 states and the District of Columbia, Florida ranks No. 23 for deaths per 100K residents and No. 16 for cases per 100K residents, according to the latest data from the health department and the COVID Tracking Project.
Hospitalizations
As of Monday, there were 3,369 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 504, Palm Beach County had 226 and Miami-Dade had 603.
Hospitalizations hit a peak in late July of about 9,500 patients statewide.
Vaccines
More than 8 million people in Florida have received one or more doses of a COVID vaccine.
In Florida, 2,936,168 people have received their first dose of the vaccine, or about 13.67% of the population.
So far, 5,080,273 people have completed the series of doses required to be vaccinated.
That represents about 23.65% of the population.