Jacob Ogles
Florida reported 59 new pandemic-related deaths on Wednesday, along with nearly 4,600 additional COVID-19 infections.
A daily report from the Florida Department of Health shows the virus continues to take its toll in Florida, but the cost was less than previous days.
The total number of positive tests for COVID-19 in Florida grew to 1,989,024, a number that dates back to the first known cases in Florida on March 1, 2020. The total grew by 4,599 cases since Tuesday’s report.
The total includes 1,952,321 Florida residents who tested positive for the coronavirus, along with 36,703 individuals from out-of-state who tested positive here.
Also in the count are 33,120 individuals who died before recovering from COVID-19. The pandemic has claimed the lives of 32,503 Florida residents, along with 616 from out of state who died in Florida.
The results for 101,330 tests were input into the state database on Tuesday. Of those, 7,258 came back positive, or 7.16%. Health officials consider the spread of the virus contained if the positivity rate remains below 10%.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday updated its report on variant strains of the virus. Florida still has the highest number of cases out of any state for the B.1.1.7 variant first detected in the United Kingdom. Florida has detected 738 infections out of the 4,686 known cases nationwide. That variant has now been detected in all 50 states.
It also has the most cases of the P.1 variation first discovered in Brazil. The CDC reports 13 of the 27 known cases nationally are patients in Florida.
But Florida has only seen two incidents of the B.1.1.351 strain out of the 142 known cases nationwide. That variation first surfaced in South Africa.
On a positive note, Florida’s efforts to vaccinate its population continued. There have now been 4,464,035 individuals in Florida who received at least one dose of the vaccines currently approved in the U.S.
That includes 120,745 who received the only required dose for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, and 2,375,690 who have completed the two-shot schedule for the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines. Another 1,967,600 individuals received their first dose of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine and await a booster shot.
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.
