As the Florida coronavirus pandemic hits the second big wave, there is a fundamental difference between now and summer: it is less of a problem specific to South Florida.
In their summer peaks, Miami and Fort Lauderdale reported twice as many cases per population as Jacksonville, Orlando and Tampa.
The two most populous counties in the state, Miami-Dade and Broward, account for nearly a quarter of all Florida residents. But in July, after cases exploded in and around Miami, hospitals in the region held 36% of all COVID-19 patients.
Per capita, they ranked second and third among all Florida counties (after Baker, population 28,000) in patients hospitalized that month (based on data since July 10 – Florida was one of the last states to publish its count of current patients in real time)
In the current increase in cases, the pandemic is more widespread throughout Florida. Every corner of the state has seen skyrocketing cases and hospitalizations, pushing Florida to its peak summer levels.
As a result, Miami-Dade and Broward now have the same proportion of patients in Florida and healthy in the state.
The winter coronavirus wave is less concentrated in South Florida
Florida residents are more likely now than in the summer to live in a county with more hospitalizations per capita than the state in general.
South Florida hospital numbers have returned to about half where they were at their peak. They are still increasing, but more slowly than in the rest of the state.
Hospitals in counties like Duval, Pinellas and Polk, however, are much closer than they were during the summer. Pasco County far surpassed its peak in July, and the beds in its intensive care unit were more than 95% full from Monday to Thursday. The cases in Jacksonville’s zip codes are firing up, faster than in any other big city now.
In Hillsborough, hospitals are “collectively overloaded” by a limited team, as their load is almost as bad as in July.
Throughout Central Florida, as the Orlando Sentinel reported, the test’s positive rates have been well above 10 percent most days, a clear sign that the virus is spreading out of control.
Cases continue to rise across the state, across all age groups. Long-stay institutions counted more active cases among residents on Friday than on any day since September 1.
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