COVID-19 cases are dropping in South Florida, but deaths are still surging

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South Florida saw a surge in COVID-19 deaths Monday, with another 55 people succumbing to the disease in the tri-county area.

The Department of Health has recorded at least 35 new COVID-19 deaths from South Florida in 10 of the last 11 days. Reports from Friday through Sunday saw the death toll in the high 30s each day. Monday’s report showed another 55 dead, putting the region’s overall death toll at 9,187.

But new COVID-19 cases are declining in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. Weekly trends show the case positivity rate — which records the share of tests coming back positive — is declining in all three counties. Despite a one-day spike in that metric Friday, reports issued the last few days show that number falling.

Still, the case positivity rate is hovering between 7.5%-8% over the past seven days in all three counties. That’s still above the 5% level experts advise in order to ensure the virus is under control.

South Florida recorded 2,468 new COVID-19 cases Monday. That’s the lowest mark since early January, after which cases surged following the holidays. South Florida has now recorded nearly 655,000 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began.

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

Miami-Dade

— Jan. 11-17: 48 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 25 newly-reported deaths per day, 2,460 new confirmed cases per day, 9.2% positivity rate

— Jan. 18-24: 36 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 19 newly-reported deaths per day, 2,086 new confirmed cases per day, 8.4% positivity rate

— Jan. 25-31: 37 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 23 newly-reported deaths per day, 1,769 new confirmed cases per day, 7.5% positivity rate

Broward

— Jan. 11-17: 23 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 8 newly-reported deaths per day, 1,151 new confirmed cases per day, 8.5% positivity rate

— Jan. 18-24: 23 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 9 newly-reported deaths per day, 1,036 new confirmed cases per day, 8.1% positivity rate

— Jan. 25-31: 26 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 10 newly-reported deaths per day, 939 new confirmed cases per day, 7.8% positivity rate

Palm Beach

— Jan. 11-17: 16 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 9 newly-reported deaths per day, 769 new confirmed cases per day, 8.5% positivity rate

— Jan. 18-24: 18 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 12 newly-reported deaths per day, 696 new confirmed cases per day, 8.5% positivity rate

— Jan. 25-31: 14 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 6 newly-reported deaths per day, 665 new confirmed cases per day, 8% positivity rate