COVID-19 deaths up again in Florida after weekend lull

Tuesday’s pandemic report is dashing hope that the state’s COVID-19 mortality rate is in decline after state health officials confirmed the deaths of 247 people.

In total, 7,402 Floridians and 124 non-residents have died in the state.

Florida is more than five months from when officials first reported COVID-19 diagnoses on March 1. But last week was the deadliest week of the pandemic, with 1,245 fatalities among Floridians.

With 245 resident deaths reported Tuesday on top of 62 Sunday and 73 Monday, the state is outpacing last week’s death toll.

The Department of Health typically reports fewer cases, hospitalizations and deaths in its Sunday and Monday reports, which largely include weekend data. But Tuesday’s reported deaths are closer to the record 257 fatalities set Thursday.

While mortality continues to trend upward, new cases are in decline. Tuesday brought 5,446 diagnoses and raised the state’s caseload to 497,330, which includes 5,557 non-residents.

Those new cases comprised residents and non-residents whose diagnoses DOH confirmed between Monday morning and Tuesday morning. For all day Monday, the state confirmed cases in 5,417 residents.

Decreasing positivity rates and fewer total tests are driving new diagnoses downward.

On Monday, officials received the results of tests from 56,533, the fewest since July 8. In total, the state has received test results from 3.8 million individuals.

The Division of Emergency management closed several drive-thru testing sites as Hurricane Isaias approached last week. With results taking days and sometimes weeks to return, those closures could potentially affect data for days to come.

While the positivity rate returned to double digits Monday, for a 10.9% rate among people who were possible new cases, the seven-day average fell to 10.7%.

Tuesday afternoon, Gov. Ron DeSantis will hold a roundtable at a Jacksonville long-term care facility. The morning report included 89 deaths among residents and staff of long-term care facilities. In total, 3,155 individuals tied to those facilities have died.

After the Department of Corrections confirmed Secretary Mark Inch tested positive for COVID-19, five people who attended a Florida Sheriffs Association meeting last week have tested positive for COVID-19, and top state elected officials who appeared at the meeting have received a warning about their potential exposure to the virus.

The July 27 meeting at a Bonita Springs hotel brought together 60 people from across the state, including Inch, DeSantis, Attorney General Ashley Moody, incoming House Speaker Chris Sprowls and sheriffs from various parts of Florida.

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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 non-residents 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.