Ryan Nicol
South Florida’s tri-county area will surpass 4 million COVID-19 vaccinations over the weekend, as the region is once again seeing cases on the decline following a March and early April increase.
Vaccinators have now administered just under 3.99 million doses across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties so far. That’s according to data from Friday’s COVID-19 report from the Department of Health. At the current vaccination pace, the 4 million mark will surely be hit during the weekend, likely with Saturday’s report.
But that’s not the only good sign for the region — Florida’s hardest-hit during the pandemic. The case positivity rate, which measures the share of COVID-19 tests that come back positive, is down week-to-week in all three counties. That’s the first time that’s happened in more than six weeks.
Miami-Dade’s case positivity rate sits at 7.1% over the past 7 days. It stood at 7.4% the week prior. Broward’s positivity rate has seen an even sharper week-to-week decline, going from 7.3% to 6.4%. Palm Beach’s number only dropped by a hair, going from 6.44% to 6.43%.
Still, it’s the first time those numbers have simultaneously moved in the right direction in a month-and-a-half. And raw case numbers are down week-to-week as well.
That’s good news, as reports in late March and early April showed signs the region could be heading to another major surge in cases. While cases did rise, they never reached the highs seen during the post-holiday spike, nor during last summer’s deadly period.
Hospitalizations are rising in Broward and Palm Beach week-to-week, however, while they’re dropping in Miami-Dade. Broward has also seen its death toll more than double week-to-week, thanks in part to a Thursday report which saw 35 deaths reported in Broward County alone.
The full tri-county area saw a death toll of 59 in Thursday’s report. But that number dropped to just 25 in Friday’s report, more in line with the lower numbers the region has seen in recent weeks.
Here are some of the weekly numbers for the previous three weeks throughout the South Florida tri-county area:
Miami-Dade
— 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, 29,369 vaccine doses administered per day, 15,897 vaccinations completed per day
— April 9-15: 36 newly reported hospitalizations per day, 11 newly reported deaths per day, 1,363 new confirmed cases per day, 7.4% positivity rate, 28,980 vaccine doses administered per day, 13,877 vaccinations completed per day
— April 16-24: 27 newly reported hospitalizations per day, 9 newly reported deaths per day, 1,226 new confirmed cases per day, 7.1% positivity rate, 22,695 vaccine doses administered per day, 10,300 vaccinations completed per day
Broward
— 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, 19,218 vaccine doses administered per day, 9,174 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, 7.3% positivity rate, 19,476 vaccine doses administered per day, 9,101 vaccinations completed per day
— April 16-24: 22 newly reported hospitalizations per day, 14 newly reported deaths per day, 655 new confirmed cases per day, 6.4% positivity rate, 14,632 vaccine doses administered per day, 7,560 vaccinations completed per day
Palm Beach
— April 2-8: 14 newly reported hospitalizations per day, 5 newly reported deaths per day, 393 new confirmed cases per day, 6.6% positivity rate, 12,371 vaccine doses administered per day, 5,201 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, 13,116 vaccine doses administered per day, 5,882 vaccinations completed per day
— April 16-24: 14 newly reported hospitalizations per day, 4 newly reported deaths per day, 364 new confirmed cases per day, 6.4% positivity rate, 10,325 vaccine doses administered per day, 5,159 vaccinations completed per day
