Ryan Nicol
South Florida’s tri-county area has now seen 9,527 people die after contracting COVID-19, according to the latest report from the Department of Health (DOH).
Tuesday’s DOH report showed another 34 deaths in the region, spanning Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.
The newest report did nearly cut Monday’s death toll — tallying 63 — in half. But at least 30 people have died from COVID-19 in South Florida for 17 out of the past 19 days.
While individuals infected during the post-holiday spike are still dying in large numbers, the virus’s current spread does appear to be slowing. The case positivity rate — measuring the share of tests coming back positive — is approximately 7% in all three major South Florida counties over the previous seven days. And that number is down week-to-week in each county.
That trend is bringing the region nearer to the 5% mark. Experts say an area should be below that number to ensure the virus is under control.
Officials in Miami-Dade County are becoming increasingly frustrated with vaccine efforts there, however. A Miami Herald report Monday showed Miami-Dade has vaccinated about one-in-four seniors. That’s below the state average of around one-in-three seniors vaccinated.
Democratic Sen. Annette Taddeo criticized Gov. Ron DeSantis in a late Monday statement, arguing the state should be sending more vaccines to Miami-Dade County, the state’s largest county.
“I sincerely hope this matter is rectified and addressed, so Miami-Dade and vulnerable communities properly receive the vaccine allotment needed,” Taddeo said.
On Tuesday, County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava continued those calls. “To ensure that we can keep up the pace of vaccination, I urge you to significantly increase the weekly allocation of vaccines to Miami-Dade County sites and to expand the capacity at large state-run sites at Hard Rock Stadium and Marlins Park by adding additional lanes and staffing,” Levine Cava wrote in a letter to DeSantis.
“[W]e must urgently increase the volume and speed of vaccination in Miami-Dade to meet the enormous demand,” she added.
Here are some of the weekly numbers for the previous three weeks throughout the South Florida tri-county area:
Miami-Dade
— Jan. 19-25: 39 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 20 newly-reported deaths per day, 2,069 new confirmed cases per day, 8.4% positivity rate
— Jan. 26-Feb. 1: 34 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 21 newly-reported deaths per day, 1,798 new confirmed cases per day, 7.5% positivity rate
— Feb. 2-8: 30 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 22 newly-reported deaths per day, 1,527 new confirmed cases per day, 7.1% positivity rate
Broward
— Jan. 19-25: 23 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 9 newly-reported deaths per day, 1,053 new confirmed cases per day, 8.2% positivity rate
— Jan. 26-Feb. 1: 27 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 10 newly-reported deaths per day, 945 new confirmed cases per day, 7.8% positivity rate
— Feb. 2-8: 27 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 10 newly-reported deaths per day, 825 new confirmed cases per day, 7.1% positivity rate
Palm Beach
— Jan. 19-25: 18 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 9 newly-reported deaths per day, 693 new confirmed cases per day, 8.5% positivity rate
— Jan. 26-Feb. 1: 16 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 11 newly-reported deaths per day, 661 new confirmed cases per day, 7.9% positivity rate
— Feb. 2-8: 21 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 11 newly-reported deaths per day, 504 new confirmed cases per day, 6.9% positivity rate
