Dade positivity rate doubles to top 10%

Florida’s Department of Health on Wednesday announced 6,014 new confirmed cases of COVID-19. The state also announced 133 total new deaths; 132 were residents, pushing the resident death toll to 31,267.

Miami-Dade’s day-today positivity rate more than doubled from Tuesday’s report when the positivity percentage was

4.87% on 39,644 tests given on Monday. On Wednesday, the state reported fewer tests had been given Tuesday — 16,285 — but that the rate went up to 10.07%.

The state has now recorded a known total of 1,924,114 coronavirus cases and 31,829 total deaths. Among those who died, 31,267 were residents and 562 were nonresidents.

On Wednesday, the state reported the results of 81,491 residents tested on Tuesday — a drop from Monday’s 148,412. The state’s positivity for firsttime testers increased from 5.69% to 6.82%.

In Florida, 1,773,638 have completed the two-dose vaccination series of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines, and 1,400,524 have received the first dose.

Miami-Dade County reported 1,868 new cases and 22 deaths, putting its pandemic totals at 414,776 cases and 5,503 deaths. In Dade, 161,017 people have received the first vaccine dose and 191,200 people have completed the twodose series. Positivity increased from 4.87% to 10.07%.

Broward County added 657 cases and 14 deaths, moving its totals to 196,771 cases and 2,422 deaths. In Broward, 114,772 people have received the first vaccine dose and 158,340 have completed the series. Positivity increased from 6.10% to 6.62%.

Palm Beach County reported 426 new cases and four deaths, bringing its cumulative count to 121,652 cases and 2,490 deaths. In Palm Beach, 104,459 people have received the first vaccine dose and 166,033 have completed the series. Positivity increased from 5.41% to 6.41%.

Monroe County added 19 new cases and no new deaths. Pandemic totals in the Keys are 5,911 cases and 46 deaths. In Monroe, 5,199 people have received the first vaccine dose and 6,973 have completed the series. Positivity decreased 6.36% to 4.46%.

As of 5:46 p.m. Wednesday, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration said there were 3,597 people hospitalized. Of these, Broward had 516; Palm Beach, 259; and Monroe, six. According to Miami-Dade’s New Normal Dashboard, county hospitals reported 620 COVID-19 patients, down from 634 on Tuesday. There were 76 new patients and 88 were discharged.

How do you know if your medical condition makes you eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine?

Your doctor will decide, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday.

People under 65 with a high-risk medical condition will need a physician to sign an eligibility form before they can get vaccinated at a Florida doctor’s office or pharmacy.

Florida’s Department of Health released a link to the one-page form late Tuesday night. The form can be downloaded at floridahealthcovid19.gov.

Basic information about the physician is required — name, phone, email, medical license number and the address of the physician’s practice. The form also asks for the patient’s name, date of birth, address and telephone number.

The form does not ask the physician to list a patient’s medical condition. It also doesn’t provide a list of eligible highrisk conditions.

Instead, physicians have to sign the form if they can certify they have a “physician-patient relationship” with the person listed on the document and have determined the patient to be “extremely vulnerable to COVID-19” and in need of the vaccine.

So, which medical conditions qualify?

It’s the doctor’s call. And a physician doesn’t have to disclose specific conditions on the form.

“We think trusting our doctors is the way to go. I think most of the physicians — they have to sign their names to this — they obviously want this to be something legitimate so I don’t think we’re gonna see any funny business with it,” DeSantis said at a Wednesday news conference in Zephyrhills.

“They’ve seen how this virus has impacted different folks. They can take a look and they can make that determination based on underlying conditions,” he said.

Previously, only hospitals were allowed to vaccinate people under 65 with pre-existing health conditions that made them at risk for severe COVID complications. Late last week, DeSantis signed an executive order allowing doctor offices and pharmacies to also vaccinate individuals determined by a physician to be “extremely vulnerable to COVID-19.”

In South Florida, Broward Health and Holy Cross Health recently began offering vaccination appointments to people who have certain health conditions that make them at risk for severe COVID infection.

Jackson Health System, Miami-Dade County’s public hospital network, is vaccinating people 50 and older who have any high-risk medical condition.