Florida’s coronavirus pandemic report for Friday shows another 2,847 people tested positive for COVID-19 and another 122 people have died from disease complications.
It’s the sixth consecutive day that the state Department of Health has tallied fewer than 3,000 new cases. And the number of fatalities is close to the average of about 99 deaths reported daily over the last seven days.
Most of these people died weeks ago, but their deaths were only recently confirmed as virus deaths. The daily reports this month have listed as few as eight deaths on Sept. 13 and as many as 213 deaths on Sept. 10.
Florida has reported a pandemic total of 14,083 deaths linked to COVID-19. The state does not say whether the victims had underlying health conditions.
But there has been a downward trend in new virus infections for more than four weeks. The peak for new cases in Florida was in July, when there was at least 10,000 new cases reported on 16 days in that month.
During a news conference Friday, Gov. Ron DeSantis said the data supports the state’s immediate move to Phase 3 in its recovery plan in its recovery plan. He said the virus remained under control after more business and school reopenings across the state and in South Florida.
“What have we seen since the third week of July? We’ve actually seen more economic activity, more interaction, schools have opened, all the theme parks are open, more people have visited and what has happened with hospitalizations? COVID-positive hospitalizations are down 76% since the July peak,” DeSantis said. “ICU hospitalizations are down 72% since the July peak … and [emergency room] visits for COVID-like illness are down close to 80%.”
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The state’s much-watched testing positivity rate is under the preferred 5% level, a sign that the virus prevalence is under control.
On Friday’s data report, the rate dropped to 4.29% for people testing positive for new infections only. It was 4.43% on the previous day. The state Department of Health says the rate has been below 5% for 12 out of the past 14 days.
South Florida
Broward County: 191 additional confirmed coronavirus cases were reported Friday. The county has tallied 76,520 cases and 1,390 deaths, six more than Thursday’s total.
Palm Beach County: 157 additional cases of COVID-19 were reported Friday. The county has had 46,023 confirmed cases and 1,358 deaths linked to the disease, seven more than Thursday.
Miami-Dade County: 503 additional cases were reported Friday. The county has had a total of 168,775 cases and 3,223 deaths, 39 more than Thursday’s report.
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Testing
More than 5.21 million people have been tested for COVID-19 in Florida since the pandemic began, producing an overall positivity rate of 13.36%, state data show. At least 695,887 people have tested positive and 4.51 million people have tested negative.
In South Florida, the cumulative positivity rates are 18.65% for Miami-Dade County, 13.66% for Broward County and 12.69% for Palm Beach County. As of Friday, 904,937 people have been swabbed in Miami-Dade, 560,371 people have been tested in Broward, and 362,752 people got COVID-19 tests in Palm Beach County.
The daily positivity rates reported Friday were 3.02% for Broward County, down from 3.05% the previous day; 2.92% for Palm Beach County, down from 3.21%; and 5.4% for Miami-Dade County, up from 4.4%.
These figures reflect only new infections based on COVID-19 testing for the day; it does not factor in people who previously tested positive for the disease.
Friday’s state data report shows test results for 72,079 Florida residents, up from 63,880 results reported the previous day, and 54,472 results two days ago. These results include retests of people who were previously diagnosed.
Hospitalizations
As of 5 p.m. Friday, 2,121 people across the state were hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19. The number is down 47 from Wednesday.
Broward County reported 215 patients currently hospitalized; Palm Beach County had 128; and Miami-Dade had the most in the state with 275.
The online report from the state Agency for Health Care Administration updates several times throughout the day. Hospitalizations have been going down since hitting a peak in late July.
Since the pandemic began, a total of 43,299 state residents have been hospitalized for the disease in Florida, according to the Department of Health.
“Right now if you look at our hospital capacity, I think we have 24% of all beds are empty and 23% of ICU beds are empty,” DeSantis said Friday. “That’s much more empty beds than before the pandemic began.”
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Deaths
Statewide: The official COVID-19 report, updated Friday, shows 13,915 Florida resident deaths. In addition, 168 nonresident deaths have been attributed to the virus in the state.
Florida’s COVID-19 death rate is twelfth among states in the nation — tied with Georgia, Maryland and South Carolina, with 64 deaths per 100,000 people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Overall the state ranks fifth for COVID-19 fatalities in the U.S., behind New York, New Jersey, California and Texas. Florida is the third-most populous state in the nation, after California and Texas.
Long-term care facilities: At least 5,673 deaths have occurred among residents and staff of nursing homes and assisted-living centers throughout Florida, 37 more than reported Thursday.
Miami-Dade County reported the highest number of deaths at these facilities, with 793; Palm Beach County reported 585, and Broward 394.
National and global view
U.S.: More than 7 million people in the country have been infected with the novel coronavirus, and 203,429 have died, as of about 4:30 p.m. Friday, according to Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center.
World: At least 32.3 million people have tested positive for COVID-19, and 985,226 people have died from the disease, says Johns Hopkins. The U.S. has had the most COVID-19 cases and deaths of any country. The U.S. has 4.3% of the world’s population, but 21.7% of the world’s cases and 20.6% of the world’s deaths.
Marc Freeman can be reached at mjfreeman@sunsentinel.com and on Twitter @marcjfreeman.
