ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The state of Florida crossed yet another mark in the COVID-19 pandemic, with more than 600,000 cases reported through its entirety.
Florida ranks No. 2 in the U.S. in terms of the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases reported, with California at No. 1 with more than 665,500 cases, according to Johns Hopkins University and Medicine. Texas just sits under 600,000 cases.
The Florida Department of Health reports Sunday a total of 600,571 positive cases of COVID-19 among people who live in the state and non-residents -- an increase of 2,974 cases since the previous daily report.
There were 61,686 test results returned from labs, with 5.52 percent of those results shown to have tested positive for the virus. It is a slight uptick from Saturday's report that showed the state dipping under the critical level of 5 percent.
However, the daily testing figure itself cannot be taken at face value.
"The problem with percent positive is it varies with how much testing we do. You cannot compare percent positive from one day to the next unless the number of tests is the same," said USF College of Public Health's Dr. Jill Roberts.
Saturday's report showed Florida received more than 98,000 tests and, again, Sunday's report showed a little over 61,000 tests reported.
As of Sunday, the median age of Floridians testing positive for the virus is 43.
The health department also reported another 51 Floridians died after testing positive for coronavirus. That brings the total to 10,325 Floridians and 137 non-residents who have died since the pandemic began.
Those numbers do not necessarily mean those most recent people died Saturday but rather the state learned of their deaths and added the numbers to the report that day. The state's line-by-line report, which you can read here, lists coronavirus deaths by the date the people tested positive for the virus, not the date they passed.
However, the state recently added a section to its daily report (on page 5) that shows deaths by date of death. This data has been reported daily on Florida's COVID-19 dashboard.
The graph for deaths by date of death is subject to change, though, because the information reported to the state can be delayed up to two weeks. So, for consistency, our charts have stuck to new deaths added by the date they were added. For transparency, you can always reference the state's data here.
As for hospitalizations, 4,586 people are hospitalized with coronavirus as their primary diagnosis as of 10:45 a.m. Sunday. Of those, 771 people are in the Tampa Bay area.
For six days in a row, the number of hospitalizations reported in Tampa Bay has been below 1,000.
A total of 36,329 people in Florida have been hospitalized with coronavirus at some point during the pandemic.
Here's a breakdown of the new coronavirus cases reported to the state:
- June 21: 2,926
- June 22: 3,286
- June 23: 5,508
- June 24: 5,004
- June 25: 8,942
- June 26: 9,585
- June 27: 8,530
- June 28: 5,266
- June 29: 6,093
- June 30: 6,563
- July 1: 10,109
- July 2: 9,488
- July 3: 11,458
- July 4: 10,059
- July 5: 6,336
- July 6: 7,347
- July 7: 9,989
- July 8: 8,935
- July 9: 11,433
- July 10: 10,360
- July 11: 15,300
- July 12: 12,624
- July 13: 9,194
- July 14: 10,181
- July 15: 13,965
- July 16: 11,466
- July 17: 10,328
- July 18: 12,478
- July 19: 10,347
- July 20: 9,440
- July 21: 9,785
- July 22: 10,249
- July 23: 12,444
- July 24: 12,199
- July 25: 9,344
- July 26: 8,892
- July 27: 9,230
- July 28: 9,446
- July 29: 9,956
- July 30: 8,989
- July 31: 9,643
- August 1: 7,104
- August 2: 4,752
- August 3: 5,446
- August 4: 5,409
- August 5: 7,650
- August 6: 7,686
- August 7: 8,502
- August 8: 6,229
- August 9: 4,155
- August 10: 5,831
- August 11: 8,109
- August 12: 6,236
- August 13: 6,148
- August 14: 6,352
- August 15: 3,779
- August 16: 2,678
- August 17: 3,838
- August 18: 4,115
- August 19: 4,555
- August 20: 4,684
- August 21: 4,311
- August 22: 2,974
Breaking down the numbers
Florida, California, and Texas are the only states that have had more than 500,000 cases of coronavirus. California currently has had the most with more than 620,000 cases. As of Aug. 23, Texas had more than 585,000.
On Aug. 9, the United States passed 5 million confirmed coronavirus cases, the highest recorded number in the world, according to the Associated Press. However, Florida has now gone more than two weeks without a daily total of newly-confirmed coronavirus cases above 10,000.
The highest single-day case number Florida has reported so far is 15,300 for July 11. However, Florida has not reported a single-day new case number at or higher than 10,000 since late July.
The state's report released on Aug. 11 of 277 newly confirmed deaths was the highest seen from the state in a single day's report. The previous record was 257 from the July 31 report.
Florida reported 3,588 new deaths (Floridians and non-residents) just in July. At the time, that was more than 50 percent of the total number of deaths reported by the state.
The World Health Organization and infectious disease experts around the globe have recommended a positivity rate of 5 percent or lower for a 14-day span in order to be comfortable reopening.
Until Aug. 21, Florida had not seen a positivity rate at 5 percent since the beginning of June. In July, the state reported positivity rates at double and even triple that recommended percentage.
The reports for Aug. 1 and 2, respectively, showed positivity rates below 10 percent for the first time since June 24. So far in August, the state has reported a positivity rate above 10 percent five times (Aug. 3, 4, 6, 10 and 11).
The positivity rate reported for Aug. 21 (4.89 percent) is the lowest Florida has seen since mid-June.
Florida remains in Phase Two of reopening, which began June 5.
Hospitalizations and ICU bed availability
Cases are climbing, but what about hospitalizations?
Tracking hospitalizations got easier on July 10 when the Agency for Health Care Administration began publishing a spreadsheet with the number of people currently checked-in for coronavirus-related complications in Florida. The data only includes people whose "primary diagnosis" was COVID-19.
As of 10:45 a.m. Sunday, 4,586 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 as their primary diagnosis statewide, and 771 of them were in the Tampa Bay area. Those numbers are frequently updated, and you can click here for the most recent data, which is also broken down by county.
Since the pandemic began, the state confirms a total of 36,329 residents were hospitalized at some point during their illness.
The Agency for Healthcare Administration (AHCA) also updates total hospital bed and ICU availability by county.
Click here for a breakdown of adult and pediatric ICU bed availability by county. You can also check ICU availability by the hospital.
Hospitalizations around Tampa Bay and total staffed hospital bed capacity status:
**Data as of 10:45 a.m. as of Aug. 23
Citrus:
- 27 COVID-19 hospitalizations
- 99 of 297 total staffed hospital beds are available
DeSoto:
- 0 COVID-19 hospitalizations
- 30 of 55 total staffed hospital beds are available
Hardee:
- 0 COVID-19 hospitalizations
- 0 of 25 total staffed hospital beds are available
Hernando:
- 33 COVID-19 hospitalizations
- 215 of 718 total staffed hospital beds are available
Highlands:
- 27 COVID-19 hospitalizations
- 71 of 255 total staffed hospital beds are available
Hillsborough:
- 232 COVID-19 hospitalizations
- 711 of 3,668 total staffed hospital beds are available
Manatee:
- 39 COVID-19 hospitalizations
- 145 of 752 total staffed hospital beds are available
Pasco:
- 51 COVID-19 hospitalizations
- 385 of 1,384 total staffed hospital beds are available
Pinellas:
- 150 COVID-19 hospitalizations
- 827 of 2,956 total staffed hospital beds are available
Polk:
- 145 COVID-19 hospitalizations
- 418 of 1,665 total staffed hospital beds are available
Sarasota:
- 67 COVID-19 hospitalizations
- 277 of 1,187 total staffed hospital beds are available
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