South Florida Sun Sentinel
May 27, 2021 2:49 PM
Vaccinations are making a difference in Florida: The seven-week average for new COVID-19 cases has dropped to a low not seen since early October. The seven-day average for new cases reached as high as 17,991 on Jan. 8. It was 2,284 on Thursday.
Florida reported new coronavirus cases on and another new resident deaths linked to COVID-19. The state has now reported cases since the pandemic began.
South Florida counties reported 787 new cases Thursday, up from 657 new cases the previous day.
Palm Beach County: additional cases and more deaths. The county now has confirmed cases and deaths, including non-residents.
Broward County: additional cases and more deaths. Broward has a known total of cases and deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. The death tally includes non-residents.
Miami-Dade County: additional cases and new deaths. The county now has confirmed cases and deaths, including non-residents.
Public health experts say the virus is considered under control when the COVID-19 test positivity rate is under 5%. Florida often has exceeded 5% in its widely publicized calculation for assessing the rate for testing of residents. It has dropped below that percentage in recent weeks.
The state reported a daily positivity rate of % on , from % the day before. This method of calculating positivity counts new infections only, but also counts repeat negative tests, which skews the figure downward.
According to the state, the new reported case numbers reflect the results of COVID-19 tests of Florida residents received from labs in the past day, from results reported the day before.
The positivity rate continues to fall in South Florida counties, dropping to less than 3% on Thursday.
Palm Beach County: Test results for residents were reported , leading to a daily positivity rate of %. That’s from % the previous day.
Broward County: Test results for residents were reported , leading to a daily positivity rate of %. That’s from % the previous day.
Miami-Dade County: Test results for residents were reported , leading to a daily positivity rate of %. That’s from % the previous day.
The number of daily deaths from COVID has declined to fewer than 100 during May. On Thursday, the state reported 86 additional deaths.
The state’s pandemic data report shows a total of Floridians have died from COVID-19. In addition, non-residents have died after contracting the virus. Most of the fatalities reported happened over several weeks but were just confirmed in the past day.
Out of all 50 states and the District of Columbia, Florida ranks No. for deaths per 100K residents and No. for cases per 100K residents, according to the latest data from the health department and the COVID Tracking Project.
Hospitalizations for COVID in Florida have been declining during May.
As of , there were people hospitalized in Florida with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, according to the state Agency for Health Care Administration.
In South Florida, Broward County reported , Palm Beach County had and Miami-Dade had .
Hospitalizations hit a peak in late July of about 9,500 patients statewide.
More than 10.12 million Floridians have had one or more doses of a COVID vaccine as of Thursday. Close to 70,000 doses have gone to the youngest age group now eligible, the 12 to 14 year olds.
In Florida, 419,416 people have received their first dose of the vaccine only, or about 1.95% of the population.
So far, 24,200 people have completed the series of doses required to be fully vaccinated. That represents about 0.11% of the population.
Source: Florida Department of Health daily vaccine report
Sun Sentinel health reporter Cindy Goodman can be reached at cgoodman@sunsentinel.com.
