Jacob Ogles
Nearly 100 new COVID-19-related deaths were reported Thursday by the Florida Department of Health.
A daily update from health officials shows DOH’s total caseload for coronavirus infections grew to 1,994,117. That’s up 5,093 positive tests since Wednesday’s report.
The grand total includes 1,957,314 Florida residents, along with 36,803 out-of-state visitors tested while here.
It also includes 33,219 individuals who died before recovering from the virus, including 32,598 who lived in Florida and another 621 who lived elsewhere, but died here. That’s an increase of 99 previously unreported deaths.
The increases came after health officials added the results of 129,019 test results Wednesday. Of those, 7,962 were positive for COVID-19, or 6.17%. The positivity rate for only new cases among Florida residents was 5.56% on Wednesday, the same as Tuesday.
Health officials generally consider the spread of the virus under control when the positive test rate remains below 10%.
Meanwhile, health officials report vaccines have now been administered to 4,570,538 individuals in the state of Florida.
That includes 130,875 of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, though Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on Thursday that number may not grow so rapidly as the supply of doses has dried up.
Another 2,422,990 individuals in Florida have completed a two-shot schedule of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. Another 2,016,673 individuals have received a first dose of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine and await a booster shot.
The latest data comes as DeSantis heard advice from a gathered panel of controversial experts who argued against any measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
Meanwhile, Democratic critics like Rep. Charlie Crist, who may challenge DeSantis in next year’s election, continued to criticize the Governor’s vaccine rollout.
DeSantis defended his efforts, including the omission of prisoners from his early vaccination efforts.
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.
