Coronavirus: Miami-Dade breaks record with 4,000+ new cases, but a data backlog is to blame

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Miami-Dade County set a one-day record with 4,141 new cases of COVID-19 announced Wednesday, though the Florida Department of Health says it’s the result of a backlog of testing data that “severely skews today’s daily report for Miami-Dade and is not reflective of current trends.”

The county’s previous high for cases reported in a day was 3,576 on July 12.

The health department said it received results dating back to June 23 from Niznik Lab Corp in Miami and vowed to investigate the reason for that along with county leaders.

The health department said that people tested by Niznik Lab Corp have been receiving their test results over the past seven weeks and that reporting issue has been corrected.

Dade’s total was part of 8,109 new coronavirus cases reported statewide Wednesday morning, along with 212 residents’ deaths as a result of COVID-19.

It comes a day after the state set a single-day record for resident deaths, reporting 276 on Tuesday. (That doesn’t mean that those deaths all necessarily occurred within the past 24 hours, based on the way Florida reports its fatalities.)

Florida is now up to 550,901 confirmed cases and 8,765 resident deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus since the start of the outbreak, according to the Florida Department of Health. At least 132 non-residents have also died from COVID-19 in Florida, the state’s dashboard says.

The new deaths announced Wednesday include 30 in Miami-Dade County, three in Broward, and 14 in Palm Beach County. Monroe County did not report any additional fatalities.

A prominent projection released last week predicts that Florida’s death toll will double by the middle of October and surpass 19,000 by Dec. 1.

The state has seen a gradual lowering of its positivity rate over the past two weeks but increases over the past two days. The positivity rate was below 10% for three straight days before rising to 10.29% in Monday’s tests and 11.89% in Tuesday’s. The state’s average positivity over the past week is 9.6% with the two-week average 10.1%.

There have also been ebbs and flows in the number of test results the health department has received over the past two weeks, which can affect the total number of new cases reported.

County-by-county

In the past day, Miami-Dade County’s confirmed COVID-19 cases increased by 4,141 to 139,271. The county has 1,939 coronavirus-related deaths, the highest total in the state.

Broward’s cases increased by 475 to 64,080. The county’s death toll is now at 859.

Palm Beach County’s cases increased by 293 to 37,934, with the death toll now at 954.

Monroe County is now listed with 1,556 cases, a one-day increase of eight, with 13 deaths.

Florida has confirmed at least 31,947 coronavirus-related hospitalizations since the start of the outbreak.

Positivity rates

Statewide, Florida reports having completed over 4 million tests for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, with 13.46% coming back positive. The state says its target is to stay below 10% positivity.

Positivity statewide has been between 8% and 12% over the past week, representing a downward trend. (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.)

The rate of positivity among people tested for COVID-19 across Florida topped out at over 18% for tests processed July 8.

Here’s a look at how those percentages have trended in Miami-Dade and Broward counties:

MIAMI-DADE

• 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 – 16.6%
• 7/12 – 20.3%
• 7/13 – 22.2%
• 7/14 – 20.0%
• 7/15 – 18.6%
• 7/16 – 18.3%
• 7/17 – 17.5%
• 7/18 – 20.6%
• 7/19 – 22.7%
• 7/20 – 19.3%
• 7/21 – 16.7%
• 7/22 – 18.6%
• 7/23 – 19.8%
• 7/24 – 19.7%
• 7/25 – 18.1%
• 7/26 – 18.2%
• 7/27 – 17.5%
• 7/28 – 16.3%
• 7/29 – 17.8%
• 7/30 – 14.9%
• 7/31 – 16.2%
• 8/1 – 15.3%
• 8/2 – 12.5%
• 8/3 – 13.7%
• 8/4 – 15.5%
• 8/5 – 12.8%
• 8/6 – 14.5%
• 8/7 – 13.4%
• 8/8 – 12.2%
• 8/9 – 10.8%
• 8/10 – 13.6%
• 8/11 – 18.3%

BROWARD

• 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 – 13.8%
• 7/13 – 16.0%
• 7/14 – 14.8%
• 7/15 – 16.6%
• 7/16 – 14.3%
• 7/17 – 13.7%
• 7/18 – 12.6%
• 7/19 – 17.6%
• 7/20 – 15.1%
• 7/21 – 12.3%
• 7/22 – 14.1%
• 7/23 – 15.7%
• 7/24 – 12.9%
• 7/25 – 12.2%
• 7/26 – 13.2%
• 7/27 – 10.8%
• 7/28 – 12.7%
• 7/29 – 13.8%
• 7/30 – 10.8%
• 7/31 – 12.8%
• 8/1 – 12.0%
• 8/2 – 8.3%
• 8/3 – 10.4%
• 8/4 – 8.8%
• 8/5 – 8.3%
• 8/6 – 9.7%
• 8/7 – 9.7%
• 8/8 – 8.7%
• 8/9 – 9.4%
• 8/10 – 10.1%
• 8/11 – 8.4%

Tracking the records

Florida’s most cases announced in a day: 15,300 on July 12

Florida’s most resident deaths announced in a day: 276 on Aug. 11

Miami-Dade’s most cases announced in a day: 4,141 on July 12

Broward’s most cases announced in a day: 1,772 on July 12

Palm Beach’s most cases announced in a day: 1,171 on July 12

Monroe’s most cases announced in a day: 84 on July 24

Latest totals

The United States has passed 5.1 million confirmed cases, with over 164,000 deaths from COVID-19, the highest numbers in the world. Over 1.7 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 20.3 million. There have been more than 743,000 deaths worldwide attributed to the pandemic, with over 12.6 million being declared recovered.

Florida’s daily new cases have trended as follows:

• Wednesday: 8,109
• Tuesday: 5,831
• Monday: 4,155
• Sunday: 6,229
• Saturday: 8,502
• Friday: 7,686
• Thursday: 7,650
• Wednesday: 5,409
• Aug. 4: 5,446
• Aug. 3: 4,752
• Aug. 2: 7,104
• Aug. 1: 9,642
• July 31: 9,007
• July 30: 9,956
• July 29: 9,446
• July 28: 9,230
• July 27: 8,892
• July 26: 9,344
• July 25: 12,199
• July 24: 12,444
• July 23: 10,249
• July 22: 9,785
• July 21: 9,440
• July 20: 10,347
• July 19: 12,478
• July 18: 10,328
• July 17: 11,466
• July 16: 13,965
• July 15: 10,181
• July 14: 9,194
• July 13: 12,624
• July 12: 15,300
• July 11: 10,360
• July 10: 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

Related links

• List of cases by city in South Florida
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