Florida COVID update: 9,806 more cases reported, hospitalizations decline

Florida on Saturday reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 9,806 more COVID-19 cases and eight deaths, according to Miami Herald calculations of CDC data.

In all, Florida has recorded at least 3,494,954 confirmed COVID cases and 50,825 deaths since the pandemic began. On Thursday, the state surged past 50,000 deaths.

In the past seven days, on average, the state has added 363 deaths and 10,971 cases per day, according to Herald calculations of CDC data. The 363 deaths, reported Saturday by the state, tie with Florida’s second-highest seven-day death average per day when tallying deaths by the date when they were reported. The highest number of deaths occurred on Sept. 4, with a seven-day average of 373 deaths per day.

Florida COVID-19 vaccine rates

About 11,992,505 eligible Floridians — 55.8% of the state’s population — had completed the two-dose series of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines or have completed Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine, according to the CDC.

Vaccinations in South Florida and Manatee County

The CDC reported that every county’s level of community transmission was high. Here’s how many people have been fully vaccinated in South Florida, according to the CDC.

▪ In Miami-Dade County, about 1,916,505 people, or 70.5% of the county’s total population, are fully vaccinated.

▪ In Broward County, about 1,160,579 people are fully vaccinated, or 59.4% of the county’s population.

▪ In Palm Beach County, about 847,921 people are fully vaccinated, or 56.7% of the county’s population.

▪ In Monroe County, about 48,961 people are fully vaccinated, or 66% of the county’s population.

▪ In Manatee County, about 209,667 people are fully vaccinated, or 52% of the county’s population.

COVID-19 hospitalizations in Florida

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Saturday report showed there were 9,393 COVID-19 patients reported from 257 Florida hospitals.

That’s 192 fewer patients than Friday’s report from 253 hospitals. In Saturday’s report, COVID-19 patients occupied 16.11% of all inpatient hospital beds, compared with 16.51% in the previous day’s reporting hospitals.

This number is based on 257 hospitals reporting 9,393 inpatient beds in use for COVID-19 patients and 58,321 total inpatient beds.

Of the people hospitalized in Florida, 2,381 people were in intensive-care units, a decrease of 62 from the previous day’s report, Herald analyses show. That represents 36.57% of the ICU beds at the 257 hospitals reporting data, compared to 37.71% the previous day.

This number is based on 257 hospitals reporting 2,381 ICU beds in use for COVID-19 patients and 6,510 total ICU beds.

Saturday’s Miami-Dade County report said there were 730 COVID patients in the county’s hospitals on Friday, a decrease of 24 from the previous day’s report. Of the 62 new COVID patients, 54 (87.1%) had not been vaccinated.