Florida adds 4,198 new COVID-19 cases and 77 deaths as positivity drops to less than 5%

Florida’s Department of Health on Thursday confirmed 4,198 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the state’s known total to 794,624 Also, 77 resident deaths were announced, bringing the resident death toll to 16,648.

The state did not report any new non-resident deaths so the non-resident toll remains at 204.

Florida changes COVID-19 data on the percent of tests coming back positive

Florida has seen increases in newly confirmed cases this month. Thursday is the third consecutive day state cases increased by 4,000 or more. The 77 deaths is the most since Saturday when the same number was reported.

The state’s percent positivity for new daily cases — people who tested positive for the first time — decreased Thursday to 4.89% from Wednesday’s 5.43%, according to the Florida Department of Health. Testing on a day-to-day basis also saw some increase from 75,067 to 85,630.

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Confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Florida

Note: The Florida Department of Health says that each county’s percent positivity for new cases (people who tested positive for the first time) does not include retests (people who have tested positive once and are being tested for a second time).

▪ Miami-Dade County reported 673 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19, which is 73 fewer than Wednesday’s figure, and nine new deaths, eight more than Wednesday, according to Florida’s Department of Health. The county now has 184,669 confirmed cases and 3,634 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases decreased from 5.39% to 5.07%. The 14-day percent positivity average was 4.55%, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” Dashboard.

▪ Broward County reported 466 additional confirmed cases of the disease, a decrease of 179 compared to Wednesday, bringing its total to 85,449 cases. The county reported two new deaths, putting its death count at 1,522. Percent positivity for new cases decreased from 7.39% to 5.55%.

▪ Palm Beach County saw 364 additional confirmed cases, 121 more than Wednesday, and 12 new deaths, nine more than on Wednesday. The county now has 51,779 confirmed cases and 1,580 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases increased from 4.95% to 5.76%.

▪ Monroe County confirmed 40 additional cases, 15 more than on Wednesday, and no new deaths. The county has a known total of 2,269 cases and 25 deaths. Percent positivity for new cases increased from 6.88% to 10.76%.

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 take 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.

Previously, the state was providing only the total number of hospitalizations in its statewide and county-level 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 11:45 a.m. Thursday, there were 2,347 COVID-19 patients admitted into hospitals throughout the state, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration dashboard, a rise of seven from Wednesday morning. This is a decrease from early August, when more than 5,000 COVID-19 patients were admitted into hospitals throughout the state.

Of Thursday’s hospitalizations, 338 were in Miami-Dade, a rise of eight; 206 in Broward, holding steady; 138 in Palm Beach, a rise of seven; and five in Monroe, up by one, 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 Thursday, Miami-Dade hospitalizations for COVID-19 complications increased from 415 to 418, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard. According to Wednesday’s data, 55 people were discharged and 56 people were admitted.

The state has had a total of 49,011 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 then 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 if it means there’s increased transmission of the virus in the community.

On Thursday, Florida’s Department of Health reported the results of 85,630 people tested on Wednesday. The positivity rate of new cases (people who tested positive for the first time) decreased from 5.43% to 4.89%.