Jacob Ogles
While the administration in Washington transitioned from Donald Trump to Joe Biden with inaugural flare, data shows the spread of the coronavirus remains unconcerned about who occupies the White House.
Data released by the Florida Department of Health Wednesday shows 1,601,011 have been infected with the coronavirus since it first surfaced in March. That’s an increase of 11,914 cases overnight and the first time in three days that day-over-day numbers have climbed by five digits.
The total caseload includes 1,571,840 Florida residents and another 29,171 individuals from outside the state but tested here. A total of 68,932 have been hospitalized with COVID-19.
A total of 24,965 of those listed died with the coronavirus, including 24,578 Floridians and 387 visitors who died in Florida. The total includes 145 newly listed dead.
Positivity rates in the state actually jumped up on Tuesday, with 13.22% of all tests reported that day coming back positive. There were 17,112 positive tests reported by agencies across Florida, and just 112,300 negative tests. Health officials say it’s important for positivity to be held to less than 10% to limit spread.
But officials feel optimistic about the use of COVID-19 vaccines spreading more rapidly. A total of 1,122,405 people in Florida have received one or both shots of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, the Department of Health reports. That’s an increase of 54,890 individuals compared to Tuesday.
That includes 1,011,217 who received an initial shot, and another 111,188 who have taken both shots and completed their shot schedule.
At the same time, there’s growing anxiety over mutated strains of COVID-19 that may test the effectiveness of those vaccines. But Gov. Ron DeSantis continues to urge Floridians to receive the vaccine and announced more convenient access at Publix locations and other places around Florida.
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.
