Jacob Ogles
More than 7,000 new coronavirus infections were reported overnight by the Department of Health.
Data released on Wednesday showed the total of infections in the state since COVID-19 surfaced here in March had grown to 1,844,627, an increase oof 7,342 more cases than were included in the Tuesday daily report.
The number reflects 1,811,078 Florida residents who tested positive for the virus, as well as 33,549 who live elsewhere and tested positive while in the state.
The state also tallied another 165 deaths from COVID-19-related causes, bringing total pandemic-connected deaths in the state to 29,824. That includes 29,311 residents of Florida and 513 others who died here but lived elsewhere.
But positivity rates in the state continue to stay below 10%, the threshold generally considered the limit to consider the spread of the virus under control.
The state on Tuesday recorded another 11,291 positive test results and 122,845 negative ones, putting the positivity at 8.42%. For only new cases for Florida residents, the rate was lower, at 6.42%.
But on a concerning note, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continue to report Florida by far leads the nation in cases of a mutated strain of the coronavirus, designated as B.1.1.7. There have been 1,277 cases of this strain in the United States, with 42 states reporting at least one infection.
Of those cases, 416 are patients tested in the state of Florida. That’s 37 more cases than were reported by the CDC on Monday.
On a brighter note, Florida continues to increase the number of vaccinations. As of midday on Wednesday, 2,487,055 individuals had been vaccinated in the state of Florida, health officials report. That’s 56,418 more than were reported vaccinated in the Tuesday report.
The total includes 1,305,889 who have received their first dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, as well as 1,181,166 who already received their booster to complete the shot regimen.
But Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday warned that weather conditions outside Florida have impacted vaccine shipments, in particular doses of the Moderna vaccine.
The Governor also fended off questions at new community pod in Lakewood Ranch over whether vaccines are being directed to some communities based on political favoritism, with potential Democratic challenger Nikki Fried piling on the attacks.
A site opened in the wealthy Manatee County community at the same time Spanish-speaking communities in South Florida complain about barriers to receiving vaccines.
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.
