Florida COVID update: 11,275 more cases reported, hospitalizations still on the decline
Florida on Friday reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 11,275 more COVID-19 cases and six deaths, according to Miami Herald calculations of CDC data.
In all, Florida has recorded at least 3,485,148 confirmed COVID cases and 50,817 deaths since the pandemic began. On Thursday, the state surged past 50,000 deaths.
In the past seven days, on average, the state has added 363 deaths and 10,877 cases per day, according to Herald calculations of CDC data. The 363 deaths, reported Friday by the state, tie with Florida’s second-highest seven-day death average per day when tallying deaths by the date when they were reported. The highest number of deaths occurred on Sept. 4, with a seven-day average of 373 deaths per day.
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREThe Herald publishes the number of new COVID-19 cases and deaths reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after each update by the agency.
On Aug. 10, the Florida Department of Health changed the way it reported new cases and deaths to the CDC. Cases and deaths used to be logged as total new cases reported on a single day. Now, Florida is reporting cases by the “case date,” according to the CDC, rather than the date the case was logged into the system. The result of this change is a lag in cases by date and a number of cases back-filling over time.
The Herald will continue to report the difference in total cases and deaths from one day to the next in stories about daily new cases and deaths, as this is consistent with the way data have been presented in daily stories since the beginning of the pandemic.
More information
The Herald is calculating new cases using the difference between cumulative total of cases and the total from the previous day, as pulled daily from the CDC trends data. New deaths are calculated the same way.
As a result, the “new cases” and “new deaths” listed on the CDC site for any given day may be different than numbers published by the Herald for the same day.
According to a statement from CDC spokesperson Jasmine Reed on Aug. 18: “Florida’s aggregate case and death data includes case date for cases and date of death for deaths. The method applies data shared by Florida and to data displayed on COVID Data Tracker. Other States also use this reporting method and states can vary in the reporting method. For example, data as of the date that states submit may be the date that a state received its data from its reporting entities, or it might be another dating method that the state prefers.”
DOH spokesperson Weesam Khoury said Florida’s new reporting system “will ensure that continuous epidemiological analyses provide the most updated data to the public.” Neither agency provided further explanation of how a “case date” is assigned to each new case.
COVID Deaths in South Florida and Manatee County
The CDC’s Community Profile Report now shows county-level death data for Florida’s 67 counties. Here’s where death rates and tolls stand in South Florida, according to the CDC.
As of Thursday’s Profile Report, the most recent, Florida had a death rate of 237 cumulative deaths per 100,000 people since the start of the pandemic.
▪ Miami-Dade County’s death toll sits at 7,730. That’s a rate of 285 cumulative deaths per 100,000 people since the beginning of the pandemic.
▪ Broward County’s death toll sits at 4,090. That’s a rate of 209 cumulative deaths per 100,000 people since the beginning of the pandemic.
▪ Palm Beach County’s death toll sits at 3,514. That’s a rate of 235 cumulative deaths per 100,000 people since the beginning of the pandemic.
▪ Monroe County’s death toll sits at 68. The county has a population of less than 100,000, which means using the CDC’s death rate metric of deaths per 100,000 people would be misleading.
▪ Manatee County’s death toll sits at 824. That’s a rate of 204 cumulative deaths per 100,000 people since the beginning of the pandemic.
Florida COVID-19 vaccine rates
About 11,966,293 eligible Floridians — 55.7% of the state’s population — had 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 and Manatee County
The CDC reported that every county’s level of community transmission was high. Here’s how many people have been fully vaccinated in South Florida, according to the CDC.
▪ In Miami-Dade County, about 1,912,648 people, or 70.4% of the county’s total population, are fully vaccinated.
▪ In Broward County, about 1,158,285 people are fully vaccinated, or 59.3% of the county’s population.
▪ In Palm Beach County, about 846,299 people are fully vaccinated, or 56.5% of the county’s population.
▪ In Monroe County, about 48,883 people are fully vaccinated, or 65.9% of the county’s population.
▪ In Manatee County, about 209,278 people are fully vaccinated, or 51.9% of the county’s population.
COVID-19 hospitalizations in Florida
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Friday report showed there were 9,585 COVID-19 patients reported from 255 Florida hospitals.
That’s 662 fewer patients than Thursday’s report from 253 hospitals. In Friday’s report, COVID-19 patients occupied 16.51% of all inpatient hospital beds, compared with 17.53% in the previous day’s reporting hospitals.
Of the people hospitalized in Florida, 2,443 people were in intensive-care units, a decrease of 69 from the previous day’s report, Herald analyses show. That represents 37.71% of the ICU beds at the 255 hospitals reporting data, compared to 38.14% the previous day.
Friday’s Miami-Dade County report said there were 754 COVID patients in the county’s hospitals on Thursday, a decrease of 69 from the previous day’s report. Of the 66 new COVID patients, 54 (81.81%) had not been vaccinated.
Broward County’s Friday report said there were 810 COVID patients in the county’s hospitals, a decrease of 58 from Thursday’s patient population.
This story was originally published September 17, 2021 at 2:24 PM with the headline "Florida COVID update: 11,275 more cases reported, hospitalizations still on the decline."
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