Florida COVID update: Fewer hospital patients, and the latest on new cases and deaths

Devoun Cetoute
·3 min read

Florida on Thursday reported 45,668 additional COVID-19 cases and 111 more deaths to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to Miami Herald calculations of CDC data.

In the past seven days, the state has added 70 deaths and 44,124 cases per day on average, according to Herald calculations. In all, Florida has recorded at least 5,242,386 confirmed COVID cases and 63,569 deaths.

The CDC backlogs cases and deaths for Florida on Mondays and Thursdays, when multiple days in the past have their totals changed. In August, Florida began reporting cases and deaths by the “case date” and “death date” rather than the date they were logged into the system.

Miami-Dade Public Library employees hand out free take home rapid test kits provided by Miami-Dade County at Westchester Regional Library in Miami, Florida, on Saturday, January 8, 2022. Miami Dade County offered two free take home rapid test kits per person at eight select Miami-Dade Public Library System locations while supplies lasted.
Miami-Dade Public Library employees hand out free take home rapid test kits provided by Miami-Dade County at Westchester Regional Library in Miami, Florida, on Saturday, January 8, 2022. Miami Dade County offered two free take home rapid test kits per person at eight select Miami-Dade Public Library System locations while supplies lasted.

FLORIDA COVID VACCINE RATES

About 13,866,645 eligible Floridians — 64.6% of the state’s population — have completed the two-dose series of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines or have completed Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine, according to the CDC.

VACCINATIONS IN SOUTH FLORIDA, MANATEE COUNTY

Here’s how many people have been fully vaccinated in South Florida and Manatee County, according to the CDC:

▪ In Miami-Dade County, about 2,217,440 people, or 81.6% of the county’s total population, are fully vaccinated.

▪ In Broward County, about 1,343,095 people are fully vaccinated, or 68.8% of the county’s population.

▪ In Palm Beach County, about 959,996 people are fully vaccinated, or 64.1% of the county’s population.

▪ In Monroe County, about 56,318 people are fully vaccinated, or 75.9% of the county’s population.

▪ In Manatee County, about 241,337 people are fully vaccinated, or 59.8% of the county’s population.

COVID-19 hospitalizations in Florida

There were 11,839 people hospitalized for COVID-19 in Florida, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Thursday report. This data is reported from 254 Florida hospitals. The number of people hospitalized across the state is 264 fewer than the day prior, when 231 hospitals reported.

COVID-19 patients take up 19.74% of all inpatient beds in the latest report, compared to 21.29% among Wednesday’s reporting hospitals.

Omicron, so far, is not as deadly as delta’s surge last summer. Hospitalizations have not approached records set during delta’s wave from July through September.

At delta’s August peak, more than 15,000 patients were hospitalized in Florida, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.

Of the people hospitalized in Florida, 1,615 were in intensive care units, a decrease of 20 from Wednesday. That represents about 25.22% of the state’s ICU beds, compared to 25.09% the previous day.

Thursday’s Miami-Dade County report said there were 1,430 COVID patients in the county’s hospitals on Wednesday, a decrease of 120 from the previous day. Of the 209 new COVID patients, 141 (67.46%) had not been vaccinated. Intensive care patients numbered 252, decreased by seven from a day earlier.

Broward County’s Thursday report said there were 1,138 COVID patients in the county’s hospitals, a decrease of 38 patients compared to the day before.