Ryan Nicol
South Florida’s tri-county area recorded just 16 new COVID-19 deaths in Wednesday’s Department of Health report. That marks five straight days where the region has seen fewer than 20 deaths due to the coronavirus.
The death toll was beginning to come down from its peak in early March, but the region still occasionally saw dozens of deaths in a single day. The March 9 report showed 60 newly-reported deaths, for instance.
The region has recorded 70 new deaths in the last five days total.
That’s a significant improvement, as vaccines have increasingly reached the populations most susceptible to the virus. As a result, Florida expanded vaccine availability to all adults last week. The tri-county area is approaching 3.5 million total doses of the vaccine — a milestone that should be reached by the weekend.
Miami-Dade County alone has administered more than 1.5 million doses. Broward is also above 1 million. Florida has paused use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine while the federal government investigates reports of possible blood clots in six patients out of more than 6.8 million who’ve received a dose. However, Pfizer and Moderna vaccines — which use a different method than the J&J shot — remain widely available.
The vaccine effort has helped keep deaths down even as cases have risen in the region in recent weeks. There are signs that increase is slowing, which could mean case counts are peaking once again before a fall. But additional data over the ensuing days will help crystallize that picture.
Here are some of the weekly numbers for the previous three weeks throughout the South Florida tri-county area:
Miami-Dade
— March 24-30: 29 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 15 newly-reported deaths per day, 1,156 new confirmed cases per day, 6.1% positivity rate, 23,306 vaccine doses administered per day, 11,665 vaccinations completed per day
— March 31-April 6: 26 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 11 newly-reported deaths per day, 1,282 new confirmed cases per day, 7% positivity rate, 28,018 vaccine doses administered per day, 13,822 vaccinations completed per day
— April 7-13: 35 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 9 newly-reported deaths per day, 1,455 new confirmed cases per day, 7.4% positivity rate, 28,751 vaccine doses administered per day, 15,445 vaccinations completed per day
Broward
— March 24-30: 13 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 7 newly-reported deaths per day, 683 new confirmed cases per day, 7.1% positivity rate, 14,973 vaccine doses administered per day, 6,068 vaccinations completed per day
— March 31-April 6: 13 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 8 newly-reported deaths per day, 733 new confirmed cases per day, 7.3% positivity rate, 17,512 vaccine doses administered per day, 7,952 vaccinations completed per day
— April 7-13: 19 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 3 newly-reported deaths per day, 786 new confirmed cases per day, 7.3% positivity rate, 18,234 vaccine doses administered per day, 8,658 vaccinations completed per day
Palm Beach
— March 24-30: 13 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 7 newly-reported deaths per day, 361 new confirmed cases per day, 6.2% positivity rate, 9,085 vaccine doses administered per day, 3,755 vaccinations completed per day
— March 31-April 6: 12 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 4 newly-reported deaths per day, 384 new confirmed cases per day, 6.2% positivity rate, 11,385 vaccine doses administered per day, 4,801 vaccinations completed per day
— April 7-13: 13 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 4 newly-reported deaths per day, 394 new confirmed cases per day, 6.5% positivity rate, 12,661 vaccine doses administered per day, 5,663 vaccinations completed per day
