Ryan Nicol
South Florida’s tri-county area saw 43 newly-reported COVID-19 deaths Friday. That’s the highest daily total in more than three weeks and represents a spike amid an otherwise downward trend recently.
Friday’s Department of Health report showed the highest daily regional death toll since March 24. Those reports show when new deaths were relayed to the state, not necessarily when they occurred.
Still, the number temporarily upends otherwise positive signs. From April 9-13, South Florida had five straight days with fewer than 20 deaths. Extend that range back a week — from April 2-13 — and the region had 12 straight days of fewer than 30 deaths.
But Thursday’s report showed 30 deaths across the tri-county area. Then Friday’s report saw the number jump higher, to 43. The overall death toll across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties now sits at 11,506.
The multi-day increase comes weeks after case counts began rising in the region once again. The case numbers appear to be plateauing, however. The case positivity rate is down week-to-week — albeit only slightly — in Broward and Palm Beach counties. That number is slightly up week-to-week in Miami-Dade, but the increase has slowed. That could be a sign of a downswing in the near future.
Trends in recent weeks show the region may avoid a worst-case scenario of a fourth major wave. The case positivity rate during the last major spike — following the winter holidays — hovered around 10%. It’s barely crossed 7% in recent weeks in Miami-Dade and Broward.
The vaccination effort continues to cross milestones. Miami-Dade has now administered more than 1.6 million vaccine doses, while Broward has surpassed 1.1 million doses. Friday also saw Palm Beach eclipse the 900,000 mark.
That adds up to more than 3.6 million doses across the tri-county area. The region is nearing 1.5 million completed vaccinations as well.
Here are some of the weekly numbers for the previous three weeks throughout the South Florida tri-county area:
Miami-Dade
— March 26-April 1: 30 newly reported hospitalizations per day, 14 newly reported deaths per day, 1,217 new confirmed cases per day, 6.7% positivity rate, 24,482 vaccine doses administered per day, 12,221 vaccinations completed per day
— April 2-8: 28 newly reported hospitalizations per day, 9 newly reported deaths per day, 1,358 new confirmed cases per day, 7.1% positivity rate, 29,283 vaccine doses administered per day, 15,885 vaccinations completed per day
— April 9-15: 36 newly reported hospitalizations per day, 11 newly reported deaths per day, 1,364 new confirmed cases per day, 7.3% positivity rate, 26,887 vaccine doses administered per day, 13,234 vaccinations completed per day
Broward
— March 26-April 1: 13 newly reported hospitalizations per day, 10 newly reported deaths per day, 710 new confirmed cases per day, 7.3% positivity rate, 15,404 vaccine doses administered per day, 6,800 vaccinations completed per day
— April 2-8: 15 newly-reported hospitalizations per day, 5 newly reported deaths per day, 753 new confirmed cases per day, 7.4% positivity rate, 19,175 vaccine doses administered per day, 9,162 vaccinations completed per day
— April 9-15: 17 newly reported hospitalizations per day, 6 newly reported deaths per day, 761 new confirmed cases per day, 7.2% positivity rate, 17,380 vaccine doses administered per day, 8,217 vaccinations completed per day
Palm Beach
— March 26-April 1: 13 newly reported hospitalizations per day, 3 newly reported deaths per day, 367 new confirmed cases per day, 6.1% positivity rate, 9,911 vaccine doses administered per day, 4,492 vaccinations completed per day
— April 2-8: 14 newly reported hospitalizations per day, 5 newly reported deaths per day, 392 new confirmed cases per day, 6.5% positivity rate, 12,232 vaccine doses administered per day, 5,177 vaccinations completed per day
— April 9-15: 10 newly reported hospitalizations per day, 3 newly reported deaths per day, 387 new confirmed cases per day, 6.4% positivity rate, 11,810 vaccine doses administered per day, 5,431 vaccinations completed per day
