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Florida reports 21 deaths, nearly 1,700 new coronavirus infections

Monday’s update brings the total number of infections in Florida to 685,439 and fatalities to 13,480.
 
The Florida Department of Health reported 1,685 new infections and linked 21 deaths to the novel coronavirus on Monday.
The Florida Department of Health reported 1,685 new infections and linked 21 deaths to the novel coronavirus on Monday. [ Times ]
Published Sept. 21, 2020|Updated Sept. 22, 2020

TAMPA — The Florida Department of Health reported 1,685 infections and linked 21 more deaths to the novel coronavirus Monday as the nation closed in on yet another somber milestone — 200,000 deaths attributed to the virus.

Since March 1, the day Florida’s first coronavirus cases were announced to the public, state health officials have tracked 685,439 infections. Monday’s update brings the total number of fatalities in Florida to 13,480, records show.

The latest daily report deflated the weekly case average to 2,816 after a slight bump seen over the weekend. The average daily death toll has been falling since Tuesday, when it hit 126, and by Monday had dropped to 97.

Yet the number of people being tested for the virus has also seen a steady decline. The results of Monday’s report reflected a testing pool of 43,198, and thus far the daily testing average in September is roughly 24,000. In August, the average number of tests per day was about 32,000, and in July the average was roughly 54,400 tests per day.

The state had recorded a total of 5,113,260 coronavirus test results Monday, records show.

The number of coronavirus infections reported each day by the health department has remained under 10,000 since July 25.

Hospitalizations: According to data from the Agency for Health Care Administration, 2,267 people in Florida were hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19. Of those, 429 were hospitalized In the Tampa Bay area.

About 27 percent of Florida’s more than 60,000 hospital beds were available for new patients on Monday, according to the state agency. About 26 percent of the nearly 6,000 adult beds in intensive care units across the state were available, as were about 43 percent of children’s ICU beds.

Hospital beds in the Tampa Bay area mirrored statewide availability, with about 23 percent of the region’s 9,000 staffed beds open for new patients. Adult ICU beds, though, were harder to come by. According to the agency’s report, about 19 percent of 1,127 adult ICU beds in the Tampa Bay area were available for new patients.

Since the coronavirus pandemic began, Florida’s hospitals have admitted 43,033 patients with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, according to the Monday report. That’s up 94 from the day before.

Positivity: Florida’s weekly average positivity rate was 11.54 percent on Monday, according to Johns Hopkins University. The figure has generally been declining since it hit 14 percent Sept. 9. It’s far lower than the state’s July spike, when positivity hit 20 percent, according to the university.

The Florida Department of Health has a different method for calculating positivity than the university’s that counts negative retests but not positive retests. Based on these metrics, the weekly positivity rate for new cases held relatively steady all week at about 5 percent before reaching 6 percent over the weekend.

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According to the state’s calculation, Florida’s daily positivity rate stayed below five percent for the 10th day in a row on Monday, with 4.36 percent of the day’s test results coming back positive for the virus. The World Health Organization recommended that states should maintain a daily positivity rate under 5 percent for at least two weeks before loosening social distancing restrictions.

Though there is no perfect metric to determine positivity, health experts say it can be used to gauge whether enough testing is being done in a region to capture mild and asymptomatic cases.

Local numbers: The Tampa Bay area added 417 coronavirus cases on Monday, with 147 coming from Hillsborough County.

The seven-county region also accounted for 14 of Florida’s 21 deaths linked to COVID-19. Seven of those deaths came from Pinellas County, which leads the region in coronavirus-related fatalities as of Monday with 732.

Pasco County reported six deaths in Monday’s update and Hernando County reported one.

As of Monday’s count, Citrus County has reported 2,646 infections and 86 deaths, Hernando County had 3,031 infections and 114 deaths, Hillsborough had 40,898 infections and 609 deaths, Manatee had 11,241 infections and 279 deaths, Pasco had 8,893 infections and 206 deaths, Pinellas had 21,561 infections and 732 deaths, and Polk County had 19,243 infections and 510 deaths.

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How fast is the number of Florida COVID-19 cases growing?

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Is Florida’s coronavirus outbreak still growing?

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Florida coronavirus cases by age group

Doctors say older people are at a greater risk to developing severe symptoms from COVID-19, which makes Florida especially vulnerable.

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Tampa Bay Times coronavirus coverage

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