Kelly Hayes
Florida confirmed 12,157 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, according to Florida Department of Health data released Saturday.
The number of new cases Friday keeps in line with the state’s past couple daily reports. On Thursday, Florida reported 13,719 more cases.
The state has now recorded 1,639,914 cases since the start of the pandemic in March — 1,609,953 residents and 29,961 visitors.
The state also saw 153 new deaths among Florida residents, bringing the virus’ death toll to 25,164. The report also showed 267 additional hospitalizations.
On Friday, the state saw a lower positivity rate than the past couple days at 8.35%. This is a significant drop from Thursday’s 15%. Health officials say positivity rates should be below 10% to reflect controlled spread.
Amid the high case numbers in recent weeks, the state is working to vaccinate those 65 and older as part of a “seniors first” initiative.
So far, the state has vaccinated 1,328,175 individuals — 151,447 of whom have completed the vaccine series. Of those individuals, 899,374 are vaccinated seniors, according to the state’s latest vaccination report.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been vocal about the state approaching 1 million seniors vaccinated, which it expects to achieve in the coming days.
The state is also cracking down on just who can get vaccinated, with concerns of “vaccine tourism” arising this past week. Now, the state is requiring seniors looking to get vaccinated to provide proof of residency.
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.
