TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — In the latest report from the Florida Department of Health, the state added another 11,682 COVID-19 cases for Dec. 18.
A total of 1,193,165 people in Florida have tested positive for coronavirus since the pandemic began.
Florida recently became the third state to report more than 1 million cases, behind California and Texas. In November alone, Florida reported 200,753 cases of COVID-19 -- nearly 20 percent of the total number of cases in the state since March.
On Saturday, the state also reported another 72 Floridians and two non-residents had died after testing positive for COVID-19. That brings the total to 20,473 residents and 291 non-residents who have died since the pandemic began -- a total of 20,764 deaths in the state related to the virus.
Those numbers do not necessarily mean those people died Thursday, but rather the state learned of their deaths and added the number 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.
As for testing, the health department reported 8.35 percent of 156,425 test results returned from labs were positive for coronavirus through Dec. 18. The median age of Floridians testing positive is 41.
As for hospitalizations, 5,092 people in Florida were hospitalized with coronavirus as their primary diagnosis as of Saturday afternoon. Of those, 1,194 patients were in the Tampa Bay area.
Statewide, a total of 59,851 people in Florida have been hospitalized with the virus at some point during the pandemic.
Here's a breakdown of new coronavirus cases reported to the state in December:
- December 1: 9,994
- December 2: 10,870
- December 3: 10,177
- December 4: 10,431
- December 5: 8,436
- December 6: 7,711
- December 7: 7,985
- December 8: 9,592
- December 9: 11,335
- December 10: 11,699
- December 11: 10,577
- December 12: 8,958
- December 13: 8,452
- December 14: 9,411
- December 15: 11,541
- December 16: 13,148
- December 17: 13,000
- December 18: 11,682
Understanding the numbers
Since mid-July, daily reported COVID-19 cases in Florida remained under 10,000. And, between Sept. 1 and Oct. 16, daily reported cases stayed below 4,000.
That changed on Nov. 15, when the state reported 10,105 new cases for the day prior.
The highest single-day case number Florida has reported so far is 15,300 for July 11. The report released on Nov. 27 of 17,345 newly-reported cases is higher, but that reported combined updates for Nov. 25 and Nov. 26.
The lowest single-day case number the state has reported since early June is 738 confirmed on Sept. 28.
On Oct. 30, Florida became the third state to cross the 800,000 reported COVID-19 cases mark. Then on Dec. 1, Florida became the third state to surpass 1 million confirmed cases. As of Dec. 19, California and Texas have 1.8 and 1.5 million cases, respectively, according to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.
According to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine, the United States has more than 17.5 million coronavirus cases as of Dec. 19, the highest recorded number in the world.
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 state 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.
The positivity rate is crucial for reopening. The World Health Organization has repeatedly said it must remain at 5 percent or lower for a 14-day span for the agency to recommend reopening.
However, it can be somewhat misleading: The number of people tested statewide varies each day, and recently the percent positive has ranged from above 6 percent to nearly 10 percent.
Health officials say they would like to see a high -- but steady -- number of people tested every day and a suppressed percent positivity figure.
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. The positivity rate reported for Oct. 3 (3.74 percent) is the lowest Florida has seen since early June.
In November, the percent positive rate reported daily didn't drop below 6 percent.
Florida has been in "Phase 3" of reopening since Sept. 25, when Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an order guaranteeing restaurants the right to operate and lifting state-level capacity restrictions on them.
Hospitalizations and ICU bed availability
New cases have dropped significantly in recent months, 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 Dec. 19, 5,092 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 as their primary diagnosis statewide, and 1,194 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 59,851 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 1 p.m. Dec. 19, 2020.
Citrus:
- 41 COVID-19 hospitalizations
- 64 of 299 total staffed hospital beds are available
DeSoto:
- 6 COVID-19 hospitalizations
- 23 of 58 total staffed hospital beds are available
Hardee:
- 0 COVID-19 hospitalizations
- 1 of 25 total staffed hospital beds are available
Hernando:
- 70 COVID-19 hospitalizations
- 219 of 735 total staffed hospital beds are available
Highlands:
- 60 COVID-19 hospitalizations
- 29 of 269 total staffed hospital beds are available
Hillsborough:
- 320 COVID-19 hospitalizations
- 766 of 4,100 total staffed hospital beds are available
Manatee:
- 54 COVID-19 hospitalizations
- 98 of 770 total staffed hospital beds are available
Pasco:
- 139 COVID-19 hospitalizations
- 272 of 1,451 total staffed hospital beds are available
Pinellas:
- 224 COVID-19 hospitalizations
- 1,001 of 3,337 total staffed hospital beds are available
Polk:
- 162 COVID-19 hospitalizations
- 378 of 1,690 total staffed hospital beds are available
Sarasota:
- 118 COVID-19 hospitalizations
- 137 of 1,277 total staffed hospital beds are available
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