COVID cases up in Florida

Tallahassee, Florida – More than 151,000 new COVID-19 cases were reported in the past week in Florida, which makes 8 straight weeks of an increase. This while the state reported 384,328 vaccine doses administered, which was a dip from the week before where 434,172 vaccines were reported administered for the week ending July 30.

The state’s weekly COVID-19 data report, released Friday, shows new cases in the past 10 weeks from June 4, where there were 11,836 new cases. Friday’s report showed 151,415 cases from Aug. 6 through Aug. 12, up from 134,711 a week earlier.

The statewide positivity rate was at19.3%, continuing a steady rise that has infectious disease experts, hospitals, and local leaders concerned.

Florida ended its daily COVID-19 reports in June and now releases weekly metrics on Fridays.

In South Florida, Broward County’s rise in positive cases is 16.5% and Miami-Dade has a 12.4% rise in new cases.

Sad news in the Broward County School District, where the teachers’ union reported that two of its teachers and an educational assistant died within 36 hours of each other.

The percentage of people vaccinated, ages 12 and up, is 74% of the population, while in Miami-Dade 83% of the population is vaccinated. While in the state of Florida, a little over half of the population at 65%, ages 12 and older, are vaccinated.

For information on where COVID-19 vaccines are available in South Florida, click here.

According to Broward County’s COVID-19 hospital report, dated Friday, Aug. 13, there were no pediatric intensive care unit beds available and 20 adult intensive care unit beds open in a county of 1.95 million people.

On Friday in Florida, the total confirmed hospitalizations due to COVID-19 are 15,441, up 2,305 reported in just one day. Of patients in the intensive care units in Florida hospitals, 48.5% are hospitalized for COVID-19.