Ryan Nicol
Another 43 people have died from COVID-19 across South Florida’s tri-county area. In total, 2,660 lives have been lost to the virus as the region nears 175,000 total confirmed cases.
That’s according to the latest numbers in Friday’s report from the Department of Health. That report covers new data from Thursday morning to Friday morning.
South Florida’s three major counties — Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach — recorded 5,665 new cases in Friday’s report. That puts the region just over 174,000 confirmed infections overall. With several thousand new cases being recorded each day, the tri-county area will surely eclipse that 175,000 mark by Saturday’s report.
Hospital space continues to be a concern in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. As of Friday morning, 91% of adult intensive care unit (ICU) beds were occupied in hospitals throughout Broward County. In Miami-Dade, that number sat at 89%.
Both are well above the overall state level. Approximately 83.7% of adult ICU beds are occupied throughout Florida. Palm Beach has around 75% of its adult ICU beds occupied.
The share of tests which came back positive has risen in all three counties over the previous two days. Those one- or two-day trends can occur from time to time, however, without holding for longer periods.
Overall, the positivity rate has been trending downward over the previous three weeks. That number still remains above 10% in all three counties, and the rate of decrease has slowed over the previous two-week span.
Deaths and hospitalizations are lagging indicators as well, meaning they may continue to rise even if the virus is not spreading as quickly.
Wednesday’s report showed the median age of new cases among its two-week high in all three counties. Thursday’s report saw that number drop, meaning the new case demographics were skewing younger. Friday’s report again shows those numbers among their two-week high in all three counties, with the median age for new cases sitting in the low- to mid-40s.
A more sustained trend upward would concern health officials, as older individuals are more susceptible to the virus’s worst effects.
The region’s three major counties are showing varying trends in deaths, hospitalizations and new confirmed cases. By and large though, deaths and hospitalizations are rising, as are new confirmed cases. That latter metric is largely a function of increased testing, as the positivity rate is declining.
Here are some of the weekly numbers for the previous three weeks throughout the South Florida tri-county area:
Miami-Dade
— July 3-9: 31 new hospitalizations per day, 12 deaths per day, 2,284 new confirmed cases per day, 21.2% positivity rate
— July 10-16: 43 new hospitalizations per day, 22 deaths per day, 2,776 new confirmed cases per day, 19.3% positivity rate
— July 17-23: 59 new hospitalizations per day, 14 deaths per day, 2,933 new confirmed cases per day, 19.1% positivity rate
Broward
— July 3-9: 37 new hospitalizations per day, 5 deaths per day, 1,202 new confirmed cases per day, 15.6% positivity rate
— July 10-16: 33 new hospitalizations per day, 6 deaths per day, 1,452 new confirmed cases per day, 14.8% positivity rate
— July 17-23: 39 new hospitalizations per day, 10 deaths per day, 1,392 new confirmed cases per day, 14.5% positivity rate
Palm Beach
— July 3-9: 20 new hospitalizations per day, 7 deaths per day, 552 new confirmed cases per day, 13.5% positivity rate
— July 10-16: 26 new hospitalizations per day, 10 deaths per day, 725 new confirmed cases per day, 11.6% positivity rate
— July 17-23: 31 new hospitalizations per day, 12 deaths per day, 661 new confirmed cases per day, 11.1% positivity rate
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Editor’s note on methodology: The Florida Department of Health releases new data every morning around 10:45 a.m. The total number reported in those daily reports include the previous day’s totals as well as the most up to date data as of about 9:30 a.m.
Florida Politics uses the report-over-report increase to document the number of new cases each day because it represents the most up-to-date data available. Some of the more specific data, including positivity rates and demographics, considers a different data set that includes only cases reported the previous day.
This is important to note because the DOH report lists different daily totals than our methodology to show day-over-day trends. Their numbers do not include nonresidents who tested positive in the state and they only include single-day data, therefore some data in the DOH report may appear lower than what we report.
Our methodology was established based on careful consideration among our editorial staff to capture both the most recent and accurate trends.
