TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida reported 13,965 more cases of COVID-19 on Thursday along with 156 new resident deaths, the highest death toll the state has announced in a single day since the start of the pandemic.
The previous high for deaths posted in a day was 132 on Tuesday. The single-day case record is 15,300, set Sunday.
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Florida is now up to 315,775 confirmed cases with 4,677 resident deaths associated with the novel coronavirus since the start of the outbreak, according to the latest data released by the health department.
The new resident deaths include 44 in Miami-Dade County and four in Palm Beach County. Broward and Monroe counties had no additional fatalities reported.
A top South Florida medical expert this week said that “Miami is now the epicenter for the virus.”
“What we were seeing in Wuhan [China] five months ago, we’re now seeing here,” said Lilian M. Abbo, M.D., an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Miami Health System and the Chief of Infection Prevention for Jackson Health System.
County-by-county
In the past day, Miami-Dade County’s confirmed COVID-19 cases increased by 3,108 to 75,425. The county has 1,246 coronavirus-related deaths, the highest total in the state.
Broward’s cases increased by 1,413 to 35,566. The county’s death toll remains at 464.
Palm Beach County’s cases increased by 923 to 23,711, with the death toll now at 638.
Monroe County is now listed with 715 cases, a one-day increase of 45, and six deaths.
On Sunday, single-day records for new cases were reached in Miami-Dade (3,576), Broward (1,772) and Palm Beach County (1,171). Monroe had its single-day high with 74 new cases on Saturday.
Medical experts and elected leaders have noted a rising number of cases among younger patients, which they’ve attributed to more widely available testing and people coming closer together both as businesses reopen and while attending large protests in recent weeks.
Florida has confirmed at least 19,825 coronavirus-related hospitalizations since the start of the outbreak.
Positivity rates
Over recent weeks, Florida has seen a notable increase in the rate of COVID-19 tests that are coming back positive, showing that the rise in cases is caused by more than just increased testing.
Statewide, Florida reports having completed over 2.7 million tests for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, with 11.5% coming back positive. The state says its target is to stay below 10% positivity.
The rate of positivity among people tested for COVID-19 across Florida topped out at over 18% for tests processed Wednesday. Positivity lowered to 11.4% for tests processed Sunday but was back up around 13% for tests processed over the past two days. (This percentage is the number of people who test positive for the first time divided by all the people tested that day, excluding people who have previously tested positive.)
Here’s a look at how those percentages have trended in Miami-Dade and Broward counties:
MIAMI-DADE
- 6/13 – 3.0%
- 6/14 – 8.9%
- 6/15 – 9.0%
- 6/16 – 12.8%
- 6/17 – 11.2%
- 6/18 – 11.1%
- 6/19 – 11.7%
- 6/20 – 13.3%
- 6/21 – 8.9%
- 6/22 – 18.1%
- 6/23 – 19.6%
- 6/24 – 10.2%
- 6/25 – 14.2%
- 6/26 – 14.0%
- 6/27 – 17.7%
- 6/28 – 18.5%
- 6/29 – 17.7%
- 6/30 – 18.2%
- 7/1 – 19.5%
- 7/2 – 20.9%
- 7/3 – 18.9%
- 7/4 – 20.5%
- 7/5 – 19.9%
- 7/6 – 20.9%
- 7/7 – 21.9%
- 7/8 – 26.3%
- 7/9 – 20.3%
- 7/10 – 21.5%
- 7/11 – 16.5%
- 7/12 – 20.2%
- 7/13 – 22.2%
- 7/14 – 20.0%
- 7/15 – 18.5%
BROWARD
- 6/13 – 2.7%
- 6/14 – 5.1%
- 6/15 – 7.6%
- 6/16 – 9.8%
- 6/17 – 7.3%
- 6/18 – 8.9%
- 6/19 – 9.7%
- 6/20 – 9.6%
- 6/21 – 6.1%
- 6/22 – 10.2%
- 6/23 – 10.7%
- 6/24 – 6.4%
- 6/25 – 11.4%
- 6/26 – 10.2%
- 6/27 – 10.4%
- 6/28 – 12.0%
- 6/29 – 13.5%
- 6/30 – 14.7%
- 7/1 – 13.5%
- 7/2 – 16.2%
- 7/3 – 14.0%
- 7/4 – 16.3%
- 7/5 – 15.9%
- 7/6 – 12.9%
- 7/7 – 14.0%
- 7/8 – 22.5%
- 7/9 – 14.9%
- 7/10 – 15.8%
- 7/11 – 13.4%
- 7/12 – 13.7%
- 7/13 – 16.0%
- 7/14 – 14.7%
- 7/15 – 16.6%
The Florida Department of Health confirmed Wednesday that some private laboratories were not reporting negative COVID-19 test results to them as required by the state, leading to 100% positivity rates being reported for those labs.
“The Department immediately began working with those labs to ensure that all results were being reported in order to provide comprehensive and transparent data,” department of health spokeswoman Olga Connor said.
Hospitals and testing
Hospital leaders and medical workers on the front lines are closely watching dwindling bed space and ICU capacity. There’s a sense that South Florida’s hospitals could be full by the end of the month at the current pace.
Both Jackson Health System and Memorial Healthcare System have suspended non-emergency inpatient procedures to protect that capacity.
The state tracks its hospital space by county and by facility, which can be seen here.
Meanwhile, more residents are going out to get tested for COVID-19, which has led to longer lines and delays with getting results back.
Latest totals
The United States has passed 3.4 million confirmed cases, with over 137,000 deaths from COVID-19, the highest numbers in the world. Over 1 million Americans have been deemed recovered, according to data compiled from various sources by Johns Hopkins University.
Worldwide, the number of COVID-19 cases reported has surpassed 13.5 million. There have been more than 584,000 deaths worldwide attributed to the pandemic, with over 7.6 million being declared recovered.
Florida’s daily new cases have trended sharply upward over the past month:
- Thursday: 13,965
- Wednesday: 10,181
- Tuesday: 9,194
- Monday: 12,624
- Sunday: 15,300
- Saturday: 10,360
- Friday: 11,433
- July 9: 8,935
- July 8: 9,989
- July 7: 7,347
- July 6: 6,336
- July 5: 10,059
- July 4: 11,458
- July 3: 9,488
- July 2: 10,109
- July 1: 6,563
- June 30: 6,093
- June 29: 5,266
- June 28: 8,530
- June 27: 9,585
- June 26: 8,942
- June 25: 5,004
- June 24: 5,511
- June 23: 3,289
- June 22: 2,926
- June 21: 3,494
- June 20: 4,049
- June 19: 3,822
- June 18: 3,207
- June 17: 2,610
- June 16: 2,783
- June 15: 1,758
- June 14: 2,016
- June 13: 2,581
- June 12: 1,902
- June 11: 1,698
- June 10: 1,371
- June 9: 1,096