More than 2 million vaccinated in Florida, but infections continue to rise

Florida tallied another 5,737 new COVID-19 infections overnight, continuing a trend of diminishing positive tests. On top of that, the Department of Health reported Monday that more than 2 million people have received at least one shot of vaccine.

But another 374 were also reported dead from COVID-19 related causes over the weekend, reminding the human cost of the pandemic has yet to be paid in full.

As of Monday at 9:25 a.m., state health officials reported a total of 1,783,720 cases of COVID-19 in the state since the start of the pandemic. That includes 1,751,343 Florida residents and another 32,377 from out of state who tested positive while here.

That’s a climb of 5,737 infections from a Sunday report. Over the weekend, the state reported 6,624 new infections on Sunday and 7,486 on Saturday.

The totals include 28,287 individuals who died with the coronavirus in Florida, including 27,815 Floridians and 472 who live elsewhere but died in the Sunshine State.

The total represented a jump of 126 deaths overnight and 374 over three days.

The positivity rate statewide on Sunday climbed to 10.42%, meaning the spread of the coronavirus is not considered to be under control. On Sunday, a total of 9,631 positive tests results came in, while 82,799 negative ones were tabulated.

But that’s the first time since Wednesday the positivity rate came in that high. Eight of the past 14 days, the positivity rate has been above 10%, reaching a zenith of 18.34% on Jan. 28 and a nadir of 7.09% on Thursday.

But many officials, including President Joe Biden, expressed concern about the potential for further coronavirus spread in Florida after crowds gathered in Tampa following the Buccaneers’ hometown Super Bowl win on Sunday.

Florida officials on Monday reported a total of 2,016,291 individuals have now been vaccinated, including 1,322,426 who have been administered one shot of the Pfizer of Moderna vaccine and 693,865 who have been fully vaccinated including a booster shot.

The totals include 1,481,132 individuals age 65 and older who have taken at least one dose of vaccine.

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 include the previous day’s totals as well as 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, considers 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.