Jacob Ogles
The Florida Department of Health on Tuesday reported more than 7,000 new COVID-19 infections.
The latest report from the state shows 1,790,743 total tested positive for the coronavirus since it first surfaced in Florida in March. That’s an increase of 7,026 since Monday’s report. The total caseload includes 1,758,254 Florida residents as well as 32,489 individuals who live in other states but tested positive while here.
The numbers also include 28,526 who died from COVID-19-related causes. Total resident deaths climbed to 28,048, and another 478 from elsewhere died in Florida over the course of the pandemic.
The death toll reflects 239 deaths added to the state tally since Monday.
While total cases jumped by a larger number on Tuesday compared to the date before, that’s partly thanks to an increase in the number of tests reported. The positivity rate in fact dropped to 9.18% on Monday after climbing above 10% on Sunday. The state on Monday recorded 11,164 total positive tests and 110,443 negative results.
Health officials consider a spread under control if positivity rates come in below 10%. For seven of the past 14 days, the positivity rate exceeded that ceiling.
Florida continues to report progress in vaccinations. As of midday Tuesday, a total of 2,057,154 have received at least one dose of vaccine in Florida. That includes 1,300,820 who already had their first shot of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines, and another 756,334 who also had a booster to complete the shot regimen.
The state at this point has vaccinated 1,512,777 seniors age 65 and older.
Both Gov. Ron DeSantis and President Joe Biden have touted the importance of distributing vaccines through pharmacies, with the Republican Governor on Tuesday even touting the Democratic administration’s Federal Pharmacy Program. That’s allowing vaccines to reach individuals through Walmart and other stores, while the state has been partnered primarily with Publix to get vaccines into arms.
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.
