8,000 new COVID-19 cases, 137 more deaths

Florida’s resident death toll from coronavirus rose to 24,274 with the addition of 137 more reported fatalities on Monday while also adding 8,002 more positive COVID19 cases to bring the total to 1,579,281.

The state Department of Health has reported 2,601 resident deaths since Jan. 1, an average of 153 per day. Comparatively, the average in December was nearly 103 deaths per day.

With 383 non-Florida resident deaths, including five new deaths reported

Monday, the state’s combined total stands at 24,657. Each report includes deaths from several previous days, as it can take weeks and sometimes several months for reports to appear.

Daily reported deaths have hovered around the 100 mark this month, continuing a trend that began in December.

In a weekly, Sundayover-Sunday comparison of numbers, the latest week topped a record 1,600 resident deaths.

Cases continue to surge, with the state having not reported less than 10,000 new daily infections since Dec. 29. Last week, Florida saw 94,269 new cases posted in state health department data.

COVID-19 hospitalizations are climbing back up toward mid-July highs of over 8,000. They had fallen to around 2,000 by early October, but passed 7,000 last week.

Across the state, 7,447 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of about 1:30 p.m. Monday including 398 in Orange County, 234 in Osceola, 142 in Lake and 130 in Seminole. The state’s online tool updates several times throughout the day.

To date, 69,165 people have been hospitalized in Florida, according to the state’s report, which includes 178 newly reported hospitalizations since Sunday’s update.

Over 124,387 people were hospitalized with COVID19 across the United States as of Sunday, according to COVID-19 Tracking Project, which updates its cumulative data once a day. The national hospitalization numbers have hovered around 130,000 daily, having dipped back after hitting a high of more than 132,000 last week.

Vaccine efforts hope to stem the rise in hospitalizations and fatalities. Based on vaccine counts released Saturday, Statewide, 915,897 people have received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine, and 91,819 people have received the second dose.

Of those who have received at least the first dose, more than 617,306 are over the age of 65. The count is a snapshot through Jan. 16, according to the DOH report dated Jan. 17.

Meanwhile, testing has ramped up. To date, 9,640,288 people have been tested in Florida, 30,082 more than Sunday’s total.

The positivity rate among those newly tested had climbed above 10% every day in January, with the exception of Thursday, Jan. 14 and Saturday, Jan. 16.

Central Florida added 1,470 cases on Monday for a total of 271,978: That includes 419 more in Orange for 93,599; 303 more in Polk for 45,853; 113 in Osceola for 30,692; 156 in Volusia for 27,542; 149 in Brevard for 26,230; 131 in Seminole for 22,054; 160 in Lake for 19,547; and 39 in Sumter for 6,461.

There were nine new deaths across all eight Central Florida counties bringing the region’s toll to 4,000. Polk County has the most coronavirus fatalities in the region with 891, followed by 847 in Orange, 582 in Brevard, 476 in Volusia, 377 in Lake, 340 in Seminole, 330 in Osceola and 157 in Sumter.