Florida adds 12,119 cases, 205 deaths from COVID while percent positivity dips statewide

Florida’s Department of Health on Saturday confirmed 12,119 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the state’s known total to 1,560,186. Also, 205 new resident deaths were announced, bringing the state’s resident death toll from the novel coronavirus to 24,004.

Florida has topped 10,000 new coronavirus cases every day since Dec. 28. And there have been at least 100 deaths every day since Jan. 5.

There were six new non-resident deaths, raising the non-resident toll to 376.

The Sunshine State has a total of 24,380 deaths, making it the fourth-highest death toll in the country, after New York, California and Texas, according to the New York Times database of U.S. cases.

According to the state’s Saturday COVID-19 vaccine report, 937,630 people have been vaccinated in Florida, an increase of 88,313 people from Friday — with 87,074 people completing the series of two doses of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.

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Confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Florida

▪ Miami-Dade County reported 2,408 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 33 new deaths, according to Florida’s Department of Health. The county has now had 341,842 confirmed cases and 4,561 deaths. The percent positivity for new cases decreased from 8.94% to 8.39% The 14-day percent positivity was at 9.98%, down from 10.05%, according to Miami-Dade’s Moving to a New Normal Dashboard.

▪ Broward County reported 1,138 additional confirmed cases and two new deaths. The county’s known total is now at 157,590 cases and 1,957 deaths. The percent positivity for new cases decreased from 8.61% to 7.66%.

▪ Palm Beach County saw 658 additional confirmed cases and 15 new deaths. The county has 96,743 confirmed cases and 2,033 deaths. The percent positivity for new cases decreased from 9.69% to 7.24%.

▪ Monroe County confirmed 33 additional cases and no new deaths. The county has a known total of 4,917 cases and 37 deaths. The percent positivity for new cases decreased from 10.24% to 6.93%

COVID-19 hospitalizations in Florida

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 takes days to report results, hospitalizations can help give officials a real-time snapshot of how many people are severely ill with COVID-19.

The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration reports 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.

As of 5 p.m. Saturday, there were 7,347 COVID-19 patients admitted into hospitals throughout the state, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration dashboard. This number is at August levels, when more than 5,000 COVID-19 patients were admitted into hospitals throughout the state.

Of Saturday’s hospitalizations, 1,024 were in Miami-Dade, 643 in Broward, 423 in Palm Beach and three in Monroe, according to the agency.

Florida’s current hospitalization data does not always match the hospitalization data reported in Miami-Dade’s “New Normal” dashboard. Officials say this could be for a number of reasons, including the frequency of daily updates.

On Saturday, Miami-Dade hospitalizations for COVID-19 complications decreased from 1,180 to 1,124, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard. According to Friday’s data, 192 people were discharged and 115 people were admitted.

The state has had a total of 67,790 Florida residents hospitalized for COVID-19-related complications, according to Florida’s COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard.

COVID-19 Testing in Florida

Testing in Florida has seen steady growth since the COVID-19 crisis began.

Testing, like hospitalizations, helps officials determine the virus’ progress and plays a role in deciding whether it is safe to lift stay-at-home orders and loosen restrictions.

Epidemiologists use the testing data to create a positivity rate. The rate helps them determine if a rise in cases is because of an increase in testing or whether there’s increased transmission of the virus in the community.

On Saturday, Florida’s Department of Health reported the results of 140,295 people tested on Friday. The positivity rate of new cases (people who tested positive for the first time) decreased from 10.17% to 8.53%.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.