Florida confirms 8,502 virus cases, 182 deaths
Florida’s Department of Health on Saturday confirmed 8,502 additional cases of COVID-19, pushing the state’s known total to 526,577. There were also 182 Florida resident deaths announced, bringing the statewide resident death toll to 8,109.
Both figures are up over Friday’s numbers: 816 more cases reported Saturday compared to Friday when 7,686 were confirmed. And there were two more deaths than Friday’s 180.
There were five nonresident deaths announced, boosting the non-resident death toll to 129.
Florida had seen a slight decrease in newly confirmed cases in the past two weeks.
But Saturday’s daily total of newly confirmed cases ends six consecutive days where Florida had reported fewer than 8,000 new cases. Testing also dropped from Aug. 2 to Aug. 4.
From July 21 through Aug. 1, there were an average of 97,000 people tested a day. From Aug. 2 through Aug. 4, there have been an average of 58,000 people tested a day. This excludes retests.
The state has not confirmed whether the reported testing results were affected by the state-run testing site closures caused by Tropical Storm Isaias last weekend.
CONFIRMED COVID-19 CASES IN SOUTH FLORIDA
Miami-Dade County reported 1,808 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 — 76 more than reported Friday — and 29 new deaths, according to Florida’s Department of Health, an increase of four deaths compared to Friday. The county now has
131,217 confirmed cases and 1,838 deaths.
Broward County reported 928 additional confirmed cases of the disease — a bump of 240 from Friday’s new cases. and seven new deaths when Friday’s figure was zero. The county now has a known total of 61,614 cases and 789 deaths.
Palm Beach County saw 486 additional confirmed cases — a rise of
109 compared to Friday and 10 new deaths — 17 fewer than Friday’s reported number. The county now has 36,600 confirmed cases and 929 deaths.
Monroe County reported 58 additional cases of the disease — a jump of 40 from Friday and holding again at no new deaths, according to the health department. The Florida Keys now have 1,514 confirmed cases and 13 deaths.
One of the tools that officials rely on to determine whether the coronavirus situation is improving in the state is hospitalization data. Unlike testing, which might be limited or take days to report results, hospitalizations can help give officials a real-time snapshot of how many people are severely ill with COVID-19.
Last month, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration began reporting the number of patients hospitalized statewide with a “primary diagnosis of COVID.” The data, which is updated at least every hour, does not distinguish between the number of COVID-19 patients in hospital intensive care units and those in acute-care beds, which require less attention from nurses.
Previously, the state was only providing the total number of hospitalizations in its statewide and countylevel data. Miami-Dade was an exception, with hospitals self-reporting a number of key metrics, including hospitalizations, to the county, which has made this data public for several months.
As of 11 a.m. Saturday, there were 6,910 COVID-19 patients admitted into hospitals throughout the state, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration dashboard. This represents a decline of 261 patients.
Of those, 1,558 were in Miami-Dade, 1,006 in Broward, 419 in Palm Beach and nine in Monroe counties, according to the agency. Miami-Dade declined by 61. Broward declined by 15; Palm Beach by 23; and one fewer in the Florida Keys.
Florida’s current hospitalization data does not always match the hospitalization data reported in Miami-Dade’s “New Normal” dashboard. MiamiDade Deputy Mayor Jennifer Moon previously told the Miami Herald that there are a number of reasons the county’s hospitalization data might differ.