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Catherine Hawley reports.
TAMPA, Fla. – The Florida Department of Health says the number of known cases of COVID-19 in the state increased by 15,019 on Saturday. According to the state’s daily update, the total number of cases in Florida is now 1,713,589.
The death toll of Florida residents has reached 26,360, an increase of 106 since Friday’s update. In addition, a total of 435 non-Floridians died in the state.
Locally, Hernando County reported four new deaths, Polk County reported three, and DeSoto and Highlands Count each reported a new death.
Of the 1,713,589 cases, 1,682,096 are Florida residents, while 31,493 are non-Florida residents in the state.
Bay Area COVID-19 boxes in numbers:
- Hillsborough: 100,334
- Pinellas: 59,207
- Sarasota: 24,645
- Manatee: 28,468
- Sumter: 7,070
- Polk: 50,201
- Citrus: 8,642
- Hernando: 9,905
- Pasco: 29,432
- Highlands: 6,455
- DeSoto: 3,363
- Hardee: 2,569
Source: Florida Department of Health
The state does not report a total number of “recovered” coronavirus patients. On Saturday, 6,153 floridians were hospitalized for a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, with a total status of 72,135 having been hospitalized for treatment at some point.
Vaccination efforts continue across the state. On Friday, an additional 19,200 patients received their first dose of vaccine in Florida, for a total of 1,354,584. Meanwhile, another 12,824 people received their second and final dose, which means that 296,782 completed both rounds.
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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 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 and in 2021. It was 6.62% on Friday, the earliest date recent available.
After reaching its peak in July, the number of deaths also began a downward trend in August that continued until November – although “significant delays” in data release, as the state says, make the interpretation of the short-term trends in this statistic less trustworthy. The 272 new deaths reported on Friday were the biggest increase in the pandemic in a single day.
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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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