Janelle Irwin Taylor
Hillsborough County confirmed a record 31 deaths Tuesday, according to Florida Department of Health data released Wednesday.
The previous single-day record was reported Aug. 3 with 21 deaths. Before that the record was 18 deaths reported July 22.
A total of 426 Hillsborough County residents have now died from COVID-19.
While tragic, deaths are a lagging indicator and reflect spikes from days and even weeks prior. Other data points in the county and region are looking better, signaling the uptick in mortality may have an end in sight.
The county recorded 202 new cases from Tuesday morning to Wednesday morning, a high number, but far lower than the several hundred and, on a couple of days, more than 1,000 reported in July.
The county has now confirmed 33,198 cases among both residents and non-residents in the county.
Hospitalizations are still high, but hospital capacity is sufficiently keeping up. The county confirmed 27 new hospital admissions Tuesday, but adult intensive care unit (ICU) capacity is at 11% with 41 of the county’s 333 beds still available, according to the Agency for Health Care Administration. That’s a sizable increase from last week when capacity dipped to as low as 3%.
The county’s positivity rate is also down, at 6.6% Tuesday. It’s the fourth day in a row the rate has dropped. The seven-day high was 8.8% on Friday.
Meanwhile, Pinellas County’s seven-day positivity rate dropped below 5% Tuesday for the first time since COVID-19 began its resurgence in late-June and into July.
Tuesday’s rate was 5.2% Tuesday, down from 5.8% Monday, but up from 3.6% Sunday. If daily reports continue to show rates higher than 5%, Pinellas County may quickly find itself back above St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman’s target as the rate teeters just under 5% at 4.7%.
The county confirmed 114 new cases in Wednesday’s report, bringing the pandemic-wide total to 18,217.
There were nine additional deaths, bringing the county’s death toll to 522. Pinellas County’s mortality rate remains high at 2.9%, up from 2.7% last week.
There were 20 new hospital admissions, but adult ICU capacity remains steady at 18% with 54 of 250 beds still available.
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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.
