FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida – The daily number of COVID-19 deaths in Florida reached 277 on Friday, breaking the state record for deaths of residents and non-residents due to the disease.
Florida reported 13,719 new cases of coronavirus on Friday and another 272 new deaths from residents linked to COVID-19. The state has reported 1,627,603 cases since the pandemic began.
The death toll broke the state record set on August 11, when the disease peaked in the summer.
SOUTH FLORIDA
Palm Beach County: 811 additional cases and 17 more deaths. The county now has 101,019 confirmed cases and 2,113 deaths, including 30 non-residents.
Broward County: 1,176 additional cases and seven more deaths. Broward has a known total of 163,896 cases and 2,046 deaths since the pandemic began. The death count includes 35 non-residents.
Miami-Dade County: 2,299 additional cases and 34 new deaths. The county now has 354,704 confirmed cases and 4,709 deaths, including 31 non-residents.
TEST AND POSITIVITY
Public health experts say the virus is considered under control when the positivity rate for the COVID-19 test is below 5%. But since October 29, Florida has exceeded 5% in its widely publicized calculation to assess the resident test rate.
The state reported a daily positivity rate of 12.37% on Friday, compared to 8.54% the previous day. This method of calculating positivity counts only new infections, but it also counts repeated negative tests, which slopes the number down.
According to the state, the new reported case numbers reflect the results of 108,592 COVID-19 tests from Florida residents received from labs the day before, compared to 148,507 results reported the day before.
Palm Beach County: Test results from 7,189 residents were reported on Friday, leading to a daily positivity rate of 10.92%. That’s 7.29% the day before.
Broward County: Test results for 8,741 residents were reported on Friday, leading to a daily positivity rate of 13.52%. That’s 7.14% the day before.
Miami-Dade County: Test results from 20,909 residents were reported on Friday, leading to a daily positivity rate of 10.83%. That’s 7.62% the day before.
DEATH
The state’s pandemic data report shows that a total of 25,011 Floridians died of COVID-19. In addition, 394 non-residents died after contracting the virus. Most of the fatalities reported on Friday happened over several weeks, but were confirmed the day before.
Of all 50 states and the District of Columbia, Florida ranks 24th in deaths per 100,000 residents and 24th in cases per 100,000 residents, according to the latest data from the Department of Health and the COVID Tracking Project.
HOSPITALIZATIONS
As of Friday, there were 6,904 people hospitalized in Florida with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, according to the state Health Administration Agency.
In South Florida, Broward County reported 631, Palm Beach County, 448 and Miami-Dade, 984.
Hospitalizations peaked in late July at about 9,500 patients across the state, then dropped to 2,011 on October 19. The numbers steadily increased during November and December.
Explore the map of current hospital capacity across Florida.
VACCINES
In Florida, 1,110,459 people received their first dose of the vaccine, or about 5.17% of the population.
To date, 139,345 people have completed the series of doses needed to be vaccinated. This represents about 0.65% of the population.