More than 7,000 remain hospitalized with COVID-19 primary diagnosis

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The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed the lives of more than 24,000 Florida residents as of Sunday, according to state healthcare agencies.

To date, health officials have tallied 24,137 Floridians who have died while infected with the virus and another 378 non-Florida residents.

The state’s total death toll is 24,515.

Of those deaths, 20,046 were Florida residents ages 65 and older, underscoring the virus’s impact on older demographics.

The state’s COVID-19 caseload now tops 1,571,279 since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the pandemic continues to grip the Sunshine State, health officials reported that 22.1% of hospital beds and 19.1% of intensive-care unit beds remain available statewide.

7,419 people are currently hospitalized with “primary” COVID-19 diagnosis, according to state data.

Florida continues to vaccinate residents and non-residents alike with the only two vaccines in its arsenal: Pfizer and Moderna.

More alternatives may soon be on the way.

As of Saturday, 915,897 people have received their first vaccine dose while 91,819 people have completed the vaccination series.

In all, the state has administered 1,007,716 COVID-19 vaccinations.

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 includes the previous day’s totals and 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.