Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
4,151 new COVID-19 cases and 159 more deaths
Florida reported 4,151 new coronavirus cases on Monday and another 159 new resident deaths linked to COVID-19. The state has now reported 1,872,923 cases since the pandemic began.
The seven-day average for new cases has been declining since January 8.
South Florida reported 2,354 new cases on Tuesday.
Palm Beach County: 283 additional cases and 18 more deaths. The county now has 117,842 confirmed cases and 2,455 deaths, including 43 non-residents.
Broward County: 531 additional cases and 9 more deaths. Broward has a known total of 190,364 cases and 2,389 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. The death tally includes 40 non-residents.
Miami-Dade County: 994 additional cases and 24 new deaths. The county now has 403,259 confirmed cases and 5,350 deaths, including 36 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 6.82% on Monday, up from 6.32% 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 60,321 COVID-19 tests of Florida residents received from labs in the past day, down from 78,853 results reported the day before.
Palm Beach County: Test results for 4,162 residents were reported Monday, leading to a daily positivity rate of 6.70%. That’s up from 5.85% the previous day.
Broward County: Test results for 7,278 residents were reported Monday, leading to a daily positivity rate of 7.36%. That’s down from 7.44% the previous day.
Miami-Dade County: Test results for 13,893 residents were reported Monday, leading to a daily positivity rate of 7.19%. That’s up from 6.32% the previous day.
Deaths
The state’s pandemic data report shows a total of 30,065 Floridians have died from COVID-19. In addition, 530 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. 25 for deaths per 100K residents and No. 23 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 4,153 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 586, Palm Beach County had 314 and Miami-Dade had 710.
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 November and December.
Vaccines
In Florida, 1,305,034 people have received their first dose of the vaccine, or about 6.08% of the population.
So far, 1,388,919 people have completed the series of doses required to be vaccinated. That represents about 6.47% of the population.
More details have emerged about changes to Epcot’s Spaceship Earth, thanks to an Instagram post by Imagineer Zach Riddley. They enhance Friday’s announcement regarding the celebrations tied to Walt Disney World’s 50th anniversary this year.
“Spaceship Earth is a unique structure recognized around the world,” Riddley writes. “To honor this idea, our Imagineers have created custom lighting features that literally emerge from her unique architecture. These features will shine across Spaceship Earth’s silver panels and ‘connect’ with one another, resembling shimmering stars in a nighttime sky.”
The round building’s multicolor lighting design will be “maintained and accentuated through new colors and intensity in programmed expressions that extended into the new main entrance fountain and the entire World Celebration area that continues to take shape before our eyes,” Riddley says.
“World Celebration” is the designation for the central part of Epcot’s current Future World. The ongoing transformation of the theme park includes a rebranding of areas, where Future World West (the Soarin’ side) will be dubbed World Nature and Future World East (the Test Track side) will become World Discovery. World Showcase’s naming will remain unchanged.
All four Disney World theme parks’ icons will be given touch-ups for the 50th celebration, including Cinderella Castle at Magic Kingdom, the Tree of Life at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Tower Hotel/Tower of Terror at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. “The World’s Most Magical Celebration” is scheduled to begin Oct. 1 and continue for 18 months, the company said last week. Also announced: New costuming for Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse for the occasion.
Riddley’s post repeated that Spaceship Earth’s lighting system will continue to be used beyond the 50th anniversary festivities. More “technical innovation and artistry” are to be revealed, he said. His Instagram account is @ thezachriddley.
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