Florida passes 14,000 coronavirus deaths mark Friday

Florida surpassed 14,000 coronavirus deaths Friday, adding another 122 people dead from the virus, according to the Florida Department of Health.

In total, 14,083 people have died from COVID-19 in Florida. The weekly death average decreased somewhat to 99 people announced dead per day. The peak came in early August, with about 185 people announced dead per day.

The state also recorded 2,847 coronavirus cases, bringing the number of infections found statewide to 695,887. Cases that led to a hospitalization increased by 172 admissions.

Hospitalizations: About 2,150 people were hospitalized across Florida with a primary diagnosis of coronavirus, according to the Agency for Health Care Administration. About 430 of those were in the Tampa Bay area.

Hospitalizations were steadily dropping in recent weeks, but have flattened out in the Tampa Bay area. In some counties, like Pasco, hospitalizations have been on the rise again.

About 24 percent of Florida’s hospital beds and 23 percent of intensive care unit beds were available Friday. In Tampa Bay, about 20 percent of hospital beds and 16 percent of ICU beds were open.

Positivity: Florida’s average weekly positivity rate, or the percentage of positive results among all tests processed, was 11 percent, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The health department calculates positivity differently, by counting negative retests but not positive retests. Based on their calculation, the weekly positivity rate was 5 percent.

Local numbers: Tampa Bay added 476 coronavirus cases and 26 deaths Friday.

Six deaths were recorded in Polk County. Five were recorded in both Hillsborough and Manatee counties, three were recorded in both Citrus and Pinellas counties and two were recorded in both Hernando and Pasco counties.

Polk and Citrus lead the region with the highest average weekly positivity at 6 percent, followed by Hernando, Hillsborough and Pasco at 5 percent, then Manatee at 4 percent and Pinellas at 3 percent.

As of the latest counts, Hillsborough has 41,506 cases and 630 deaths; Pinellas has 21,845 cases and 746 deaths; Polk has 19,647 cases and 529 deaths; Manatee has 11,393 cases and 293 deaths; Pasco has 9,101 cases and 209 deaths; Hernando has 3,107 cases and 120 deaths; and Citrus has 2,722 cases and 100 deaths.

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