Tampa area hospitals prepare for COVID outbreak
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TAMPA, Fla. – The Florida Department of Health says the number of known cases of COVID-19 in the state increased by 19,816 on Thursday. According to the state’s daily update, the total number of cases in Florida is now 1,429,722.
The death toll of Florida residents has reached 22,481, an increase of 164 since Wednesday’s update. In addition, a total of 336 non-Floridians died in the state.
Locally, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties reported eight new deaths each, Polk reported seven, Citrus reported six, while Highlands reported two.
Of the 1,429,722 cases, 1,404,374 are Florida residents, while 25,348 are non-Florida residents currently in the state.
Bay Area COVID-19 boxes by the numbers:
- Hillsborough: 83,574
- Pinellas: 48,998
- Sarasota: 20,512
- Manatee: 24,000
- Sumter: 5,720
- Polk: 40,983
- Citrus: 7,226
- Hernando: 8,041
- Pasco: 23,948
- Highlands: 5,358
- DeSoto: 3,047
- Hardee: 2,216
New cases of Florida residents in orange; new deaths of residents in gray. Note: Normally, deaths appear to be decreasing due to the delay in confirming data from the past few days. Source: Florida Department of Health.
The state does not report a total number of “recovered” coronavirus patients. As of Thursday, 7,335 Florida residents were hospitalized for a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, with a state total of 64,704 hospitalized for treatment at some point.
Vaccination efforts continue across the state. On Wednesday, another 32,285 patients received their first dose of vaccine in Florida, for a total of 384,223. Meanwhile, 8,684 more people received their second and final dose, which means that 14,601 completed both rounds.
RELATED: Information on the Distribution of the COVID-19 Vaccine in the Tampa Bay Area Counties
Source: Florida Department of Health
The number of new cases had generally decreased in the fall, reflecting the number of tests being carried out. But it started to increase again. The 19,473 new cases reported on Thursday were the biggest single-day increase in the entire pandemic.
The rate of new positive tests has declined since the peak of summer, remaining below 10% for several months, but reached that point again during the holiday season. It was 11.60% on Tuesday, the most recent date available.
After reaching its peak in July, the number of deaths also began a downward trend in August, which continued until November – although “significant delays” in the release of data, as the state says, make the interpretation of the short-term trends of this statistic less reliable. The 164 deaths reported on Thursday were among the highest total single reported deaths in the pandemic.
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Source: Florida Department of Health
PDF: COVID-19 full county report by DOH county
Editor’s note: The number of new cases and deaths reported each day does not necessarily reflect the day the case was confirmed. The state says that some private test labs dump large batches of test results that include cases from previous days, and the data can take days or weeks to validate. Today’s and previous days’ statistics are likely to change in the future as the state analyzes more cases and updates retroactive data.
The state’s death toll represents Florida’s permanent residents who died of COVID-19.
MAP: Florida coronavirus cases by county
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If you feel sick:
The Florida Department of Health opened a COVID-19 Call Center at 1-866-779-6121. Agents will answer questions 24 hours a day. Questions can also be sent to [email protected]. E-mail responses will be sent during the call center hours.
LINK: Florida COVID-19 website
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Map of known COVID-19 cases:
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