Florida reported 2,145 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, which was down from Tuesday’s tally of 3,662 new infections.
Since the coronavirus pandemic began, the state Department of Health has reported 762,534 people have tested positive for the highly contagious disease.
Officials on Wednesday reported that another 105 people have died from COVID-19 complications. Most of these deaths happened in recent weeks but were just confirmed in the past day.
As of Wednesday, 16,210 residents and 203 non-residents have died from COVID-19 illness, but those figures are now under scrutiny, according to the state Department of Health.
The state challenged the integrity of the data Wednesday, saying 95 of those deaths may not have been due to COVID-19.
The department said 16 of the deaths occurred more than two months after the person tested positive, and 11 people died more than a month ago.
And in five cases, there was a three-month gap between the time of infection and death.
Palm Beach County had 50 of the COVID-19 deaths in the latest report, which shattered the previous one-day record of 27 deaths reported Aug. 7.
Testing and positivity rates
According to two different measures of daily COVID-19 positivity rates, the state is above the 5% level where public health experts say the virus is under control.
Florida Department of Health: The state on Tuesday reported a daily positivity rate of 6.74%, up from 6.17% the day before based on Florida’s method of calculating positivity that counts new infections only, but also counts repeat negative tests. It was 5.9% for Broward, 5.2% for Miami-Dade and 4.6% for Palm Beach County.
Johns Hopkins University: This measure shows Florida’s positivity rate at 13.2%. That’s an increase from 10.1% reported the day before. Unlike state data, Johns Hopkins University counts only first-time test takers in its positivity rate.
Johns Hopkins also posted a disclaimer for its statewide data on Wednesday.
“There are currently a number of anomalies in testing data,” the disclaimer reads. “Our testing data provider, The Covid Tracking Project, is in the process of changing how it maps states’ data to the categories we use for our positivity calculations. Additionally, some states have made changes to the data they report. We are currently evaluation how best to adapt to these changes and are reviewing our data inputs and calculations to ensure that we can present the most responsible and accurate view of state test positivity data.”
South Florida
Broward County: 167 additional confirmed coronavirus cases and 27 fewer deaths, presumably now that the death data has been challenged. The county has a known total of 81,704 cases and 1,519 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.
Palm Beach County: 82 additional cases of COVID-19 and 19 more deaths. The county now has 49,380 confirmed cases and 1,553 deaths.
Dr. Alina Alonso, health department director for the county, said she was concerned about the growing number of daily cases.
“I’m not causing panic,” Alonso said. “I’m simply saying that we have to be very cautious as we look at these numbers and try to determine where they’re coming from and be prepared to do what we need to do to put perhaps additional control measures in terms of stopping the spread of COVID.”
Miami-Dade County: 358 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 10 fewer deaths. The county now has 179,644 confirmed cases and 3,572 deaths.
Deaths
Statewide: The latest report shows a total of 16,210 Florida resident deaths. In addition, 203 non-resident deaths have been attributed to the virus.
Long-term care facilities: At least 6,577 deaths have occurred among residents and staff at nursing homes and assisted-living centers throughout Florida. That’s 59 additional deaths in the past day.
Miami-Dade County has reported the highest number of deaths at long-term care facilities, with 838, two more since Tuesday. Palm Beach County is second with 705, or 29 more deaths reported in the past day due to the data discrepancy. Broward has reported 441 deaths, or two more since Tuesday.
