Florida adds 47,709 COVID cases from Monday

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Florida reported 47,709 new COVID-19 cases from Monday, according to the latest CDC data.

It follows 49,548 new infections from Sunday, representing a decrease after the state averaged over 64,000 new cases per day over the past week.

Florida has now verified at least 4,806,782 COVID-19 cases since the start of the outbreak, according to the CDC, which sources its metrics from the states. The case total does not include people who take at-home tests and don’t report their results to health officials.

At least 62,813 people have died in Florida with COVID, the data shows.

As of Tuesday, more than 10,000 patients are hospitalized with COVID-19, according to the Florida Hospital Association.

Dr. Ali Mokdad, of the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, has been studying COVID-19 and believes Florida has already reached its omicron peak. He predicts that by the time the current wave is over, about 80% of Floridians will have contracted the virus since the beginning of the pandemic.

The omicron variant is now estimated to account for 98.3% of new cases in the United States as of Jan. 8, according to new data released by the CDC. In early December, omicron was estimated to account for just 0.6% of all new cases.

Omicron has been proven to be the most contagious variant, though it has not led to the number of hospitalizations as the delta variant did over the summer. More residents are also now vaccinated and have received booster shots.

Florida reported a record 397,114 new COVID-19 cases for the week of Dec. 31 through Jan. 6, an average of more than 56,000 per day.

The statewide new-case positivity rate last week was 31.2%, by far the highest recorded during the pandemic, rising from 26.6% a week prior. Up until mid-December, that positivity rate sat below 3% for several weeks.

For information on where you can get a COVID-19 test or vaccine in South Florida, click here.