South Florida adds more than 5K new COVID-19 cases as post-holiday spread continues

A drive through testing facility could put your personal information at risk. Image via David Santiago/Miami Herald.

South Florida’s tri-county area recorded another 5,104 COVID-19 cases Monday, according to a newly-released report by the Department of Health.

Those cases now put the region past 540,000 confirmed coronavirus cases since the outbreak began. South Florida is experiencing a sizable bump in cases since the late December holiday period.

Raw cases are up week-to-week in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. The positivity rate — which measures the share of tests coming back positive — has risen in all three counties as well. That shows the increase in confirmed cases is not merely due to more testing, as a larger portion of tests are showing new cases as well.

Monday did see some positive news, as only four new deaths were recorded in the three major counties. Hospitalizations are still up week-to-week in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties, however. Broward has seen a week-to-week decrease in hospitalizations as of Monday.

Hospital space isn’t quite as threatened as it was during the summer surge. Hospitals in Miami-Dade and Broward counties have more than 84% of adult intensive care unit beds occupied as of Tuesday. That includes all patients, not just those with COVID-19. Palm Beach hospitals are in better shape with less than 71% of those beds occupied.

All three regions remain above a 9% positivity rate over the previous 7 days. That number may get worse, as the past two days have seen each county above a 10% positivity rate.

Health experts warned that large gatherings during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays could result in a surge. While the region avoided a similar surge after Thanksgiving, the numbers since the calendar turned have been worrying.

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

Miami-Dade

— Dec. 15-21: 34 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 13 newly-reported deaths per day, 2,300 new confirmed cases per day, 8.7% positivity rate

— Dec. 22-28: 24 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 10 newly-reported deaths per day, 2,039 new confirmed cases per day, 9.5% positivity rate

— Dec. 29-Jan. 4: 27 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 13 newly-reported deaths per day, 2,623 new confirmed cases per day, 9.8% positivity rate

Broward

— Dec. 15-21: 24 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 6 newly-reported deaths per day, 1,052 new confirmed cases per day, 7.1% positivity rate

— Dec. 22-28: 22 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 5 newly-reported deaths per day, 787 new confirmed cases per day, 7.9% positivity rate

— Dec. 29-Jan. 4: 19 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 8 newly-reported deaths per day, 1,213 new confirmed cases per day, 9% positivity rate

Palm Beach

— Dec. 15-21: 18 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 7 newly-reported deaths per day, 579 new confirmed cases per day, 7.3% positivity rate

— Dec. 22-28: 17 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 5 newly-reported deaths per day, 509 new confirmed cases per day, 8.1% positivity rate

— Dec. 29-Jan. 4: 21 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 7 newly-reported deaths per day, 759 new confirmed cases per day, 9.3% positivity rate