COVID-19 cases, Florida deaths continue to rise

JACKSONVILLE, Florida. – Florida reported 16,875 new cases of coronavirus on Friday, bringing the number of residents and visitors diagnosed in the state to 1,548,067. Florida has added almost 250,000 cases since the first day of the year, which increases the daily increase in cases to almost 15,000.

Duval County added almost 1,000 additional cases on Friday, St. Johns and Alachua counties each had more than 200 new cases. There were 125 new cases in Nassau County – the biggest increase in one day.

The Department of Health also reported 188 deaths from COVID-19, bringing the number of deaths in Florida to 24,169 since the pandemic first appeared in Florida in early March. Four of the deaths reported on Friday were in Duval County, four in St. Johns, three in Columbia and one in each of Alachua, Clay and Nassau County.

As of Friday afternoon, there were 7,528 patients with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19 in hospitals in Florida. There were no intensive care beds available in Columbia, only 5.6% of the ICU beds were open in Flagler County, 6.8% in Alachua County, 10% in Clay and Putnam Counties, 12.5% ​​in Nassau , 19.5% in Duval and 43.2% in St Johns County.

The rate of positive tests rose again above 10% on Thursday, where it had been since before the new year.

As of Friday morning, 849,317 Florida residents had at least one injection of two vaccines approved by the federal government. Demand for the vaccine exceeded supply everywhere it was offered, with new appointments being scheduled minutes after opening and queues for any location that does not require an appointment.

On Thursday, Moskowitz announced plans for a statewide nomination system for COVID-19 vaccinations that should be ready in weeks.

“We are working on a registration system that we plan to launch in the coming weeks to help integrate the website’s registration and fix some of the issues that we all read about,” he said.

The design of a state online portal is still under discussion and will be made available to municipalities – which are not required to use the system – to help them coordinate vaccinations.