Jacob Ogles
The Florida Department of Health reported another 161 new COVID-19-related deaths Monday. That came on a day when the total nationwide toll of the pandemic climbed past a half million lives lost.
The number of COVID-19 deaths in Florida climbed to 30,595, a total that includes 30,065 Florida residents and another 530 who live elsewhere but died here. Florida on Friday surpassed 30,000 total deaths and on Monday, the United States saw the nationwide tally surpass 500,000.
Meanwhile, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Florida rose to 1,872,923. That’s an increase of 4,151 new cases since the state released data on Sunday.
Within that total are 433 infections with the B.1.1.7 mutated strain of the coronavirus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s more than a quarter of the 1,661 known cases of the variant in the United States, and more than twice as many cases as the next closest state, Michigan, with 210 cases.
The positivity rate for tests reported on Sunday jumped up to 9.58%, still less than the 10% threshold generally considered as the line for whether the spread of the virus is contained. There were 6,922 positive tests reported on Sunday and 65,304 negative ones.
With that, the positivity rate has remained below 10% for a full two weeks, though Sunday marked the high point in that period.
Among only new cases for Florida residents, the positivity rate was 6.82%.
Florida officials also marked progress with vaccinations. Officials have now administered more than 4 million doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. A total of 2,698,591 individuals in the state have now received at least one shot.
And over the weekend, the total number of fully vaccinated individuals for the first time exceeded those who had only received a first shot. A total of 1,398,394 have received an initial dose and a booster, completing the series of shots. Another 1,300,197 have had only a first dose.
The totals include 2,038,204 individuals age 65 and older who have had at least one shot 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.
