Florida COVID update: 901 added deaths, largest single-day rise in pandemic history

 Florida on Thursday reported 21,765 more COVID-19 cases and 901 deaths to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to Miami Herald calculations of CDC data.

All but two of the newly reported deaths occurred after July 25, with about 78% of those people dying in the past two weeks, according to Herald calculations of data published by the CDC. The majority of deaths happened during Florida’s latest surge in COVID-19 cases, fueled by the delta variant.

It is the largest single-day increase to the death total in the state’s COVID pandemic history.

The jump in the number of reported cases and deaths is due to the newest way deaths and cases are counted. The CDC implemented the change earlier this month, causing occasional one-day aberrations like the 901 additional deaths on Thursday and 726 more deaths reported Monday.

In all, Florida has recorded at least 3,151,909 confirmed COVID cases statewide and 43,632 deaths.

BEHIND OUR REPORTING

The 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.

FLORIDA COVID-19 VACCINE RATES

As of the Thursday report, 11,138,433 eligible Floridians — 51.9% of the state’s population — had completed the two-dose series of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna, or have completed Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine, according to the CDC.

COVID-19 VACCINES IN SOUTH FLORIDA

The CDC reports that every county’s level of community transmission is high. Here’s how many people have been fully vaccinated in South Florida, according to the CDC.

▪ In Miami-Dade County about 1,779,732 people, or 65.5% of the county’s total population, are fully vaccinated.

▪ In Broward County about 1,077,319 people are fully vaccinated, or 55.2% of the county’s population.

▪ In Palm Beach County about 795,090 people are fully vaccinated, or 53.1% of the county’s population.

▪ In Monroe County about 45,789 people are fully vaccinated, or 61.7% of the county’s population.

▪ In Manatee County about 196,121 people are fully vaccinated, or 48.6% of the county’s population.

COVID-19 HOSPITALIZATIONS IN FLORIDA

There were 16,833 people hospitalized for COVID-19 in Florida on Thursday, according to data reported to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services from 256 Florida hospitals. That is 331 fewer patients than Wednesday’s COVID patient population.

COVID-19 patients also accounted for 28.76% of all hospital patients.

Of the hospitalized in Florida, 3,688 people were in intensive care unit beds, an increase of 54. That represents 55.28% of the state’s ICU hospital beds from 256 hospitals reporting data.

Thursday’s Miami-Dade County report said there were 1,692 COVID patients in the county’s hospitals on Tuesday, a decrease of 201 from the previous day’s report. Of the 152 new COVID patients, 131 (86.2%) had not been vaccinated.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article253766203.html