Sunday Florida COVID update: 6,834 new cases with current hospitalizations on the rise
The Florida Department of Health’s COVID-19 dashboard reported 6,834 new confirmed cases, the most on a Sunday since January, and 35 deaths.
Also, one of the most reliable indicators of spread in a community, current hospitalizations, has risen by 16.2% over the alst two weeks.
Sunday is usually the day with the lowest case numbers and death toll because data tends to be collected and entered at a lower rate on the weekends. This Sunday’s report was the highest since Jan. 31’s 7,788.
The state reported 35 deaths, all of whom were Florida residents. For the pandemic, Florida reports 2,168,901 cases, 34,439 resident deaths and 35,109 total deaths.
Saturday’s state-wide positive test rate was 8.68%, the highest of the last two weeks. The second highest test rate of the last two weeks: 8.17%.
Does COVID test positivity still matter? Vaccines are upending trusted virus metrics
COVID vaccines in Florida and South Florida
All the vaccination numbers were lower this Sunday, probably reflecting the effect of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine hold.
▪ Florida: The state’s vaccination report says another 24,493 people have received either the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine or their second COVID vaccine dose of the two-shot vaccines, meaning 5,080,273 people are fully vaccinated.
▪ Miami-Dade County: The state reported 4,030 people completed their vaccinations, meaning 677,026 in Miami-Dade are fully vaccinated.
▪ Broward: Another 2,032 people completed their vaccinations, putting Broward’s completed vaccine total at 453,269.
▪ Palm Beach: After 1,601 people completed their vaccine treatment, 375,124 in Palm Beach County have completed a vaccine regimen.
▪ Monroe: Another 61 people completed their vaccine shot treatment. Overall, 19,581 have done so.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Florida
▪ Miami-Dade County reported 1,760 more people who tested positive and one more COVID-19 death, putting its pandemic totals at 470,668 cases and 6,044 deaths.
The positive test rate on Saturday was 10.36%, according to the county-by-county breakdown, easily surpassing the second highest day of the last two weeks, 9.05% on April 11.
▪ Broward County reported another 764 cases and 14 deaths, moving its totals to 228,502 cases and 2,783 deaths.
The positive test rate was 7.38% on Saturday, continuing a one day up, one day down trend of the last four days.
▪ Palm Beach County reported 491 new cases (138,967 for the pandemic) and zero deaths (2,717).
Saturday’s positive rate was 8.24%, the only day in the last two weeks over 8.0%.
▪ Monroe County reported 11 new cases and zero deaths. Pandemic totals in the Keys are 6,742 cases and 50 deaths.
Current hospitalizations
Government officials use current hospitalizations to decide the next action in dealing with the pandemic. On the state level, this has been steadily falling over the last month.
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 2:02 p.m Sunday, the agency said there were 3,321 people hospitalized, 68 more people than 2:30 p.m. Saturday, 219 more than April 11 and 463 more than April 4. South Florida’s counties reflected this rise, compared to Saturday: Miami-Dade, up 17 to 600; Broward, up seven to 502; Palm Beach, up 20 to 223; and Monroe, down two to three..
Florida’s 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.
Sunday, Miami-Dade’s New Normal Dashboard said hospitals reported 607 COVID-19 patients, nine more people than Saturday’s report, 17 fewer than four days previous but 83 more than 13 days previous. The number of patients in Intensive Care Unit Beds was 136 at Sunday’s report, two more than Saturday’s report, up 11 from seven days previous and 29 more than 13 days previous.
