Ryan Nicol
Thursday’s COVID-19 report from the Department of Health showed just 15 newly-reported deaths in South Florida. That’s the lowest daily total in the region since Jan. 5.
Those reports detail when deaths were reported, not necessarily when they occurred. But just 16 deaths were reported Sunday and only 26 on Monday. With multiple recent days of low death totals, some may be optimistic that South Florida’s COVID-19 death rate could finally remain low.
The problem is that Tuesday’s report — just two days prior to Thursday’s low number — saw 60 newly-reported deaths. That was the highest one-day total in more than one month.
Previous drops in deaths have been followed by surges as well. It’s too early to say whether deaths are on the downswing for good in the tri-county area. Deaths are down week-to-week in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties but are rising week-to-week in Broward County. In total, 10,674 people have died in those three major counties since the pandemic began.
There is good news on the vaccine front, as more than 600,000 people in the region have now been fully vaccinated. That number sits at just under 624,000 as of Thursday. More than 1.74 million shots have been administered throughout the three counties.
Miami-Dade County is particularly seeing an increase. Thursday was the 14th consecutive day that at least 10,000 doses have been doled out. That streak dates back to Feb. 24, when the state approved nearly 70 new pharmacies in Miami-Dade to distribute the vaccine.
Thursday saw the tri-county area add 2,288 COVID-19 cases, putting South Florida across the 750,000 mark overall. Case counts have been dropping for weeks in all three counties, however.
Here are some of the weekly numbers for the previous three weeks throughout the South Florida tri-county area:
Miami-Dade
— Feb. 18-24: 40 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 18 newly-reported deaths per day, 1,285 new confirmed cases per day, 6.1% positivity rate, 7,424 vaccine doses administered per day, 3,098 vaccines completed per day
— Feb. 25-March 3: 39 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 20 newly-reported deaths per day, 1,255 new confirmed cases per day, 6.2% positivity rate, 14,754 vaccine doses administered per day, 3,877 vaccines completed per day
— March 4-10: 38 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 15 newly-reported deaths per day, 1,144 new confirmed cases per day, 5.9% positivity rate, 16,205 vaccine doses administered per day, 4,335 vaccines completed per day
Broward
— Feb. 18-24: 26 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 10 newly-reported deaths per day, 752 new confirmed cases per day, 6.7% positivity rate, 5,916 vaccine doses administered per day, 2,378 vaccines completed per day
— Feb. 25-March 3: 25 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 9 newly-reported deaths per day, 677 new confirmed cases per day, 6.4% positivity rate, 8,821 vaccine doses administered per day, 3,040 vaccines completed per day
— March 4-10: 22 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 13 newly-reported deaths per day, 636 new confirmed cases per day, 6.1% positivity rate, 9,868 vaccine doses administered per day, 2,887 vaccines completed per day
Palm Beach
— Feb. 18-24: 13 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 9 newly-reported deaths per day, 444 new confirmed cases per day, 6.2% positivity rate, 7,162 vaccine doses administered per day, 5,025 vaccines completed per day
— Feb. 25-March 3: 15 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 8 newly-reported deaths per day, 398 new confirmed cases per day, 6% positivity rate, 6,820 vaccine doses administered per day, 3,450 vaccines completed per day
— March 4-10: 12 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 5 newly-reported deaths per day, 342 new confirmed cases per day, 5.3% positivity rate, 7,746 vaccine doses administered per day, 3,811 vaccines completed per day
