Ryan Nicol
South Florida recorded more than 4,000 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, with one major county crossing a major milestone and another county nearing one.
Miami-Dade County added another 2,287 cases in Wednesday’s Department of Health report. That puts Florida’s most populous county at about 350,000 total COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began.
Two counties to the north in Palm Beach, another 687 cases were recorded Wednesday. Palm Beach has now tallied 99,379 total cases, putting the 100,000-case mark in reach by Thursday or Friday.
Palm Beach also saw its daily positivity rate — the share of COVID-19 tests that are positive — rise for the fourth straight day. That number sat above 10% in Wednesday’s report. While the positivity rate in Palm Beach is still down week-to-week, that trend won’t last long if this increase continues.
Miami-Dade’s positivity rate was also above 10% in Wednesday’s report. That’s the first time the county has eclipsed that total in nearly two weeks. Still, like in Palm Beach County, the week-to-week trend remains trending downward. The same is true for Broward’s positivity rate.
The daily hospitalization numbers in Miami-Dade County seem to be slowing. From Jan. 6-12, the region recorded 50 newly-reported hospitalizations per day. This past week, that number has dropped to 40 newly-reported hospitalizations per day. In Wednesday’s report, the county recorded just 27 new hospitalizations. Those recent numbers are still not ideal, but do represent a good trend compared to numbers seen last week, which rivaled the county’s deadly summer surge.
South Florida’s tri-county area recorded 18 deaths Wednesday, around half the total as seen in Tuesday’s report. Overall, 8,689 people have died after contracting the virus in South Florida.
Here are some of the weekly numbers for the previous three weeks throughout the South Florida tri-county area:
Miami-Dade
— Dec. 30-Jan. 5: 28 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 13 newly-reported deaths per day, 2,674 new confirmed cases per day, 10.6% positivity rate
— Jan. 6-12: 50 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 30 newly-reported deaths per day, 2,760 new confirmed cases per day, 9.7% positivity rate
— Jan. 13-19: 40 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 23 newly-reported deaths per day, 2,276 new confirmed cases per day, 9.1% positivity rate
Broward
— Dec. 30-Jan. 5: 17 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 7 newly-reported deaths per day, 1,201 new confirmed cases per day, 9.9% positivity rate
— Jan. 6-12: 30 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 8 newly-reported deaths per day, 1,285 new confirmed cases per day, 9.3% positivity rate
— Jan. 13-19: 21 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 8 newly-reported deaths per day, 1,119 new confirmed cases per day, 8.2% positivity rate
Palm Beach
— Dec. 30-Jan. 5: 11 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 6 newly-reported deaths per day, 805 new confirmed cases per day, 10% positivity rate
— Jan. 6-12: 15 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 9 newly-reported deaths per day, 887 new confirmed cases per day, 9.8% positivity rate
— Jan. 13-19: 18 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 11 newly-reported deaths per day, 747 new confirmed cases per day, 8.4% positivity rate
