Florida’s COVID-19 positivity rate reaches highest level since mid-August

While the number of coronavirus cases are on the rise nationwide, Florida is experiencing an uptick in positivity rates that is beginning to match levels from the state’s summer COVID-19 resurgence.

For the second time this month, the state’s percent positivity rate was 8.3% Monday, the highest level since mid-August, the tail end of a resurgence that peaked in early July.

Meanwhile, officials made 4,353 more COVID-19 diagnoses since Monday’s report. As of Tuesday morning, the Department of Health shows that 852,174 people have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus in Florida, including 11,522 people from out of state.

The death toll among residents rose 69 to 17,248 while another 212 nonresidents have died in the state.

The latest data includes cases detailed between Monday morning and Tuesday morning. For all day Monday, officials counted 4,316 cases among 56,648 residents tested. Among the new positives, the median age was 40.

For all but one day in the past 14 days, the percent positivity rate has been above 5%, an uptick over levels last month. Oct. 28 was the last day the positivity rate was below 5%, coming in just below that mark at 4.9%.

Some experts say a community should maintain rates below 5% for 14 days before reopening services like schools.

For weeks, the Governor’s Office has acknowledged an uptick in the number of new positives, but Gov. Ron DeSantis has emphasized that Florida will keep its reopening course. Before the uptick in positivity rates, the Governor’s communications director, Fred Piccolo, told Florida Politics that newly available rapid tests could be inspiring interest in testing. But he also acknowledged Phase Three and the full reopening of restaurants as probable factors driving an increase in cases.

Notably, COVID-19 cases and deaths reported by state health officials can sometimes be reported days or weeks later.

New cases have increased across the country, particularly in the Midwest, and the nation has seen record-setting days for new infections.

Meanwhile, the White House and President Donald Trump‘s inner circle faces a second COVID-19 outbreak some speculate is tied to his Election Night celebration from Tuesday. Chief of Staff Mark Meadows was the first prominent official to test positive, and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson has also tested positive, according to reports Monday.

In Florida, DeSantis has for months shifted the state’s data focus away from the raw count and percent positivity rates, instead pointing to hospital visits with symptoms related to COVID-19 as his preferred metric.

After peaking at 15,999 coronavirus-related hospitalizations the week of July 5, DOH reported that hospitalizations were in decline. But three of the last five weeks have seen week-over increases in the number of cases, the first since the first half of July.

As of Monday, 50,872 Floridians have been hospitalized after DOH recorded 281 new hospitalizations. The Agency for Health Care Administration reports that 3,034 people are currently hospitalized with the disease, the first time active hospital cases were above 3,000 since September.

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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, consider 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.