FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Florida’s health department reported 37,772 new COVID-19 cases over the past week, the smallest weekly total since the week that began July 2.
It’s the state’s fifth straight week with fewer new infections than the week prior.
Recommended Videos
That’s according to the Florida Department of Health’s full weekly COVID-19 report, released Friday and covering the period of Sept. 24-30. (See the full report at the bottom of this page.)
The state’s new-case positivity rate dropped to 6.5%, the lowest since June.
Meanwhile, the state reported 5,829 new COVID-19 cases in the latest daily data posted Friday by the CDC.
The latest metrics posted by the CDC show Florida at 3,576,581 cases and 55,011 deaths tied to COVID-19 since the start of the outbreak.
The state added 938 deaths to its tally Thursday and two more Friday. Those fatality figures are often backlogged and span back weeks in terms of when the patients actually died.
New cases, positivity rates and hospitalizations steadily trended downward throughout September after August was the worst month of the pandemic in Florida.
The state has gone nine consecutive days with fewer than 10,000 new cases. In the peak of the summer surge in August, Florida was reporting on average more than 21,000 new cases per day.
The state closed September with under 5,500 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, according to the Florida Hospitalization, after admissions had peaked at nearly 17,000 weeks prior.
ℹ Florida COVID-19 Update for September 30, 2021
— Florida Hospital Association (@FLHospitalAssn) September 30, 2021
🚨 Total Confirmed Hospitalizations: 5,483 pic.twitter.com/Jp74o1S2xd
The trendlines on deaths are more difficult to pinpoint since data is added weeks later. (And the death total listed in the state’s weekly report is virtually meaningless because it doesn’t include hundreds of deaths backdated to days prior to the past week.)
At least 5,300 new deaths were reported in Florida in September, though that total is likely to grow as backlogged data gets added in the coming days.
More than 9,300 fatalities were verified in August, the deadliest month of the pandemic in Florida.
Click here for information on where to get COVID-19 testing or vaccines in South Florida.
SEE THE FULL WEEKLY STATE COVID REPORT BELOW: