Ryan Nicol
South Florida’s COVID-19 death continues to ebb and flow, as the region’s tri-county area recorded 38 deaths Thursday.
That’s according to a new report from the Department of Health which covers data from Wednesday morning to Thursday morning. Those 38 new deaths mark the second-lowest daily death toll recorded in the region over the previous two weeks.
Miami-Dade County saw 19 additional Florida residents succumb to the virus. Palm Beach recorded 17 deaths, while only two people died in Broward.
The previous daily report, however, showed 80 additional deaths in South Florida. That was the seventh-highest death toll ever for the region.
South Florida has seen similar drops in the death toll over the past two months as the virus spread rapidly throughout the region. To this point, that downward trend has yet to hold. Three of the region’s seven deadliest days have been recorded in the last week.
Health officials would welcome a more sustained drop in deaths similar to the reduction of new cases in the region. The share of tests coming back positive has consistently dropped in recent weeks.
On Wednesday, Miami-Dade County recorded its first positivity rate below 10% since June 21. Thursday’s report again showed fewer than 10% of tests coming back positive. Broward and Palm Beach counties have seen their respective positivity rates remain below 10% for at least two weeks.
Miami-Dade added just over 1,000 new cases Thursday. Broward recorded 534 cases while Palm Beach added 224. That totals just over 1,800 new cases for the region, which was routinely topping 4,000 new cases last month.
Broward and Miami-Dade hospitals still remain more congested than the state average. The state shows 81.6% of adult intensive care unit beds are filled. That number is 87% in Broward and 85.4% in Miami-Dade. Palm Beach has less than 72% of its adult ICU beds filled.
Those numbers include all hospital patients, not just those with COVID-19. Broward and Miami-Dade are hoping to remain below the 90% capacity levels seen in weeks prior.
Here are some of the weekly numbers for the previous three weeks throughout the South Florida tri-county area:
Miami-Dade
— July 30-Aug. 5: 88 new hospitalizations per day, 38 deaths per day, 1,683 new confirmed cases per day, 14.8% positivity rate
— Aug. 6-12: 70 new hospitalizations per day, 24 deaths per day, 1,892 new confirmed cases per day, 14.3% positivity rate
— Aug. 13-19: 58 new hospitalizations per day, 33 deaths per day, 1,186 new confirmed cases per day, 10.5% positivity rate
Broward
— July 30-Aug. 5: 52 new hospitalizations per day, 15 deaths per day, 825 new confirmed cases per day, 10.5% positivity rate
— Aug. 6-12: 85 new hospitalizations per day, 14 deaths per day, 693 new confirmed cases per day, 9.3% positivity rate
— Aug. 13-19: 93 new hospitalizations per day, 24 deaths per day, 496 new confirmed cases per day, 7.4% positivity rate
Palm Beach
— July 30-Aug. 5: 24 new hospitalizations per day, 12 deaths per day, 431 new confirmed cases per day, 9.2% positivity rate
— Aug. 6-12: 30 new hospitalizations per day, 10 deaths per day, 350 new confirmed cases per day, 7.4% positivity rate
— Aug. 13-19: 22 new hospitalizations per day, 11 deaths per day, 239 new confirmed cases per day, 6.1% 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 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.
