COVID kills Manatee County resident. Florida has second-lowest daily case count this year

Another Manatee County resident has died from COVID-19, according to the Florida Department of Health, and 36 more people in Manatee County have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

They were among 2,826 new cases confirmed statewide on Monday. For Florida, it was the second-lowest daily count of cases so far this year. The lowest was on March 1, when 1,700 new cases were recorded. Before that, Florida hadn’t seen a case count this low since Halloween.

However, the low case count comes with the caveat that fewer tests than usual were processed on Sunday. The positivity rate among the tests that were processed was also one of the highest in the last two weeks, at 6.1%.

The state health department also recorded the deaths of 93 more Florida residents and six more non-residents due to COVID-19 on Monday. Florida’s death toll during the pandemic now totals 32,348 and 611 non-residents.

Florida continues to rank fourth for overall deaths and third for overall cases during the pandemic, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In Manatee County, resident deaths now total 629, while the overall COVID-19 case count since testing began now totals 33,267.

Over the last week, an average of 5.3% of Manatee County test results were new positive cases, according to health department data. That compares to 5.9% last week and 6.3% a month ago.

As of Sunday, more than 89,000 Manatee County residents have been at least partially immunized against COVID-19, including over 37,000 residents who have been fully vaccinated, according to the state health department’s vaccine report.

Statewide, over 4.2 million people have received at least a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, including more than 2.3 million people that have been fully vaccinated.

Manatee County from Sunday to Monday

• Cases increased from 33,231 to 33,267.
  
  
• The death toll increased from 628 to 629.
  
  
• Resident hospitalizations since the outbreak increased from 1,402 to 1,405.

• Manatee County’s daily rate of new positive cases increased from 4.8% to 6.7%.

• 1,352 cases (4% of all cases) and 191 deaths (30% of all deaths) were among residents and staff of long-term care facilities in Manatee.

• The official count of people vaccinated against COVID-19 increased from 88,498 to 89,070.

• 51,308 people have received a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 37,762 have been fully inoculated.

Florida from Sunday to Monday

• Cases increased from 1,976,808 to 1,979,634.
  
  
• The resident death toll rose from 32,255 to 32,348. The non-resident death toll rose from 605 to 611.
  
  

• Florida’s daily rate of new positive cases increased from 5.7% to 6.1%.

• The official count of people vaccinated against COVID-19 increased from 4,204,186 to 4,252,250

• 1,882,052 people have received a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 2,370,198 have been fully inoculated.

Surrounding counties

• Sarasota County cases increased from 27,973 to 28,025. The death toll remained at 751.
  
  
• Pinellas County cases increased from 69,063 to 69,192. The death toll increased from 1,501 to 1,510.
  
  
• Hillsborough County cases increased from 115,722 to 115,912. The death toll remained at 1,555.
  
  
• Hardee County cases increased from 2,855 to 2,857. The death toll increased from 34 to 35.
  
  
• Desoto County cases increased from 3,934 to 3,938. The death toll increased from 78 to 79.
  
  

This story was originally published March 15, 2021 at 3:22 PM.