South Florida COVID-19 death toll tops 9K after another daily spike

The COVID-19 death rate in South Florida jumped back up Thursday, as the tri-county area recorded another 49 deaths in the newest Department of Health report.

That returns the region to numbers seen Friday through Monday when South Florida averaged just over 50 newly-reported deaths per day during the four-day span. That data shows when deaths were reported, not necessarily when they occurred.

Monday’s report saw the death toll drop to 19, before it rose to 35 in Wednesday’s report.

As Florida works to increase access to the COVID-19 vaccine, regional death numbers have still been troubling. Democratic members of Congress representing parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties criticized Gov. Ron DeSantis Thursday, arguing the state has botched the rollout. DeSantis has blamed the federal government for an inadequate supply of shots.

One good bit of news in Thursday’s report is that the case positivity rate dropped day-to-day in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. That number is holding steady week-to-week in Broward County, but has dropped in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach. The positivity rate for each county is hovering around 8% over the previous seven days. That’s mostly held true for the last several days’ worth of reports.

Here are some of the weekly numbers for the previous three weeks throughout the South Florida tri-county area:

Miami-Dade

— Jan. 7-13: 49 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 29 newly-reported deaths per day, 2,633 new confirmed cases per day, 9.5% positivity rate

— Jan. 14-20: 39 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 21 newly-reported deaths per day, 2,226 new confirmed cases per day, 9% positivity rate

— Jan. 21-27: 39 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 22 newly-reported deaths per day, 1,935 new confirmed cases per day, 7.9% positivity rate

Broward

— Jan. 7-13: 29 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 7 newly-reported deaths per day, 1,250 new confirmed cases per day, 8.9% positivity rate

— Jan. 14-20: 21 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 8 newly-reported deaths per day, 1,076 new confirmed cases per day, 8.2% positivity rate

— Jan. 21-27: 24 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 9 newly-reported deaths per day, 991 new confirmed cases per day, 8.2% positivity rate

Palm Beach

— Jan. 7-13: 16 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 11 newly-reported deaths per day, 845 new confirmed cases per day, 9% positivity rate

— Jan. 14-20: 19 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 8 newly-reported deaths per day, 744 new confirmed cases per day, 8.8% positivity rate

— Jan. 21-27: 15 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 12 newly-reported deaths per day, 654 new confirmed cases per day, 8.3% positivity rate