ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Florida added an additional 3,656 coronavirus cases on Sept. 4, according to the latest report from the Florida Department of Health.
There now are a total of 643,867 cases statewide since March. The median age of Floridians testing positive for the virus is 36.
Another 62 Floridians died after testing positive for COVID-19, bringing the total to 11,811 residents who died since the pandemic began. Florida Health says one death was removed from the previous day's report as a COVID-related death in a resident was ruled out.
The state also appeared to update the number of non-resident deaths from 153 deaths on Sept. 3 to 152 deaths on Sept. 4.
Those numbers do not necessarily mean those people died Friday but rather the state learned of their deaths and added the numbers 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.
However, the state recently 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.
For the month of August, daily reported COVID-19 cases in Florida remained under 10,000. And, for more than a week, daily new cases were under 4,000. That changed with Tuesday's report for Aug. 31. A backlog of nearly 75,000 test results from Quest Diagnostics was added to that day's report, which resulted in 7,569 new cases reported. Failure to report those test results earlier, most of which were more than two weeks old, with some dating all the way back to April, caused the Department of Health to sever all ties with Quest, according to the state.
The health department, in its latest data, reported 5.99 percent of 70,024 test results returned from labs were positive for coronavirus through Sept. 4.
As for hospitalizations, 3,234 people were hospitalized with coronavirus as their primary diagnosis as of 10:45 a.m. Saturday. Of those, 592 patients were in the Tampa Bay area.
A total of 39,912 people in Florida have been hospitalized with COVID-19 at some point during the pandemic.
Here's a breakdown of the new coronavirus cases reported to the state:
- June 21: 2,926
- June 22: 3,286
- June 23: 5,508
- June 24: 5,004
- June 25: 8,942
- June 26: 9,585
- June 27: 8,530
- June 28: 5,266
- June 29: 6,093
- June 30: 6,563
- July 1: 10,109
- July 2: 9,488
- July 3: 11,458
- July 4: 10,059
- July 5: 6,336
- July 6: 7,347
- July 7: 9,989
- July 8: 8,935
- July 9: 11,433
- July 10: 10,360
- July 11: 15,300
- July 12: 12,624
- July 13: 9,194
- July 14: 10,181
- July 15: 13,965
- July 16: 11,466
- July 17: 10,328
- July 18: 12,478
- July 19: 10,347
- July 20: 9,440
- July 21: 9,785
- July 22: 10,249
- July 23: 12,444
- July 24: 12,199
- July 25: 9,344
- July 26: 8,892
- July 27: 9,230
- July 28: 9,446
- July 29: 9,956
- July 30: 8,989
- July 31: 9,643
- August 1: 7,104
- August 2: 4,752
- August 3: 5,446
- August 4: 5,409
- August 5: 7,650
- August 6: 7,686
- August 7: 8,502
- August 8: 6,229
- August 9: 4,155
- August 10: 5,831
- August 11: 8,109
- August 12: 6,236
- August 13: 6,148
- August 14: 6,352
- August 15: 3,779
- August 16: 2,678
- August 17: 3,838
- August 18: 4,115
- August 19: 4,555
- August 20: 4,684
- August 21: 4,311
- August 22: 2,974
- August 23: 2,258
- August 24: 2,673
- August 25: 3,220
- August 26: 3,269
- August 27: 3,815
- August 28: 3,197
- August 29: 2,583
- August 30: 1,885
- August 31: 7,569*
- September 1: 2,402
- September 2: 3,571
- September 3: 3,198
- September 4: 3,656
Breaking down the numbers
Florida on Aug. 22 became the second state to cross the 600,000 reported COVID-19 cases mark. As of Sept. 3, California has had more than 721,000 cases. Texas has about 641,800 cases, according to Johns Hopkins University & Medicine.
On Aug. 31, the United States passed 6 million coronavirus cases, the highest recorded number in the world, according to the Associated Press. That's a little more than three weeks after the country surpassed 5 million confirmed coronavirus cases on Aug. 9. According to Johns Hopkins University, the countries with the next highest confirmed cases are Brazil with 3.9 million and India with 3.7 million, as of Sept. 2.
The highest single-day case number Florida has reported so far is 15,300 for July 11. However, Florida has not reported a single-day new case number at or higher than 10,000 since late July.
And, the report from the state showed 1,885 new cases were confirmed on Aug. 30, the fewest in a day since mid-June.
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 previous record was 257 from the July 31 report.
The World Health Organization and infectious disease experts around the globe have recommended a positivity rate of 5 percent or lower for a 14-day span in order to be comfortable reopening.
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. So far in August, the state has reported a positivity rate above 10 percent five times (Aug. 3, 4, 6, 10 and 11).
The positivity rate reported for Aug. 21 (4.89 percent) is the lowest Florida has seen since mid-June.
Florida remains in Phase Two of reopening, which began June 5.
Hospitalizations and ICU bed availability
Cases are climbing, 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 10:45 a.m. Saturday, 3,234 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 as their primary diagnosis statewide, and 592 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 39,667 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 10:45 a.m. on Sept. 5
Citrus:
- 24 COVID-19 hospitalizations
- 66 of 295 total staffed hospital beds are available
DeSoto:
- 3 COVID-19 hospitalizations
- 39 of 55 total staffed hospital beds are available
Hardee:
- 0 COVID-19 hospitalizations
- 3 of 25 total staffed hospital beds are available
Hernando:
- 28 COVID-19 hospitalizations
- 296 of 756 total staffed hospital beds are available
Highlands:
- 18 COVID-19 hospitalizations
- 101 of 258 total staffed hospital beds are available
Hillsborough:
- 162 COVID-19 hospitalizations
- 737 of 3,692 total staffed hospital beds are available
Manatee:
- 21 COVID-19 hospitalizations
- 161 of 754 total staffed hospital beds are available
Pasco:
- 43 COVID-19 hospitalizations
- 340 of 1,401 total staffed hospital beds are available
Pinellas:
- 128 COVID-19 hospitalizations
- 1,068 of 3,166 total staffed hospital beds are available
Polk:
- 124 COVID-19 hospitalizations
- 331 of 1,597 total staffed hospital beds are available
Sarasota:
- 41 COVID-19 hospitalizations
- 267 of 1,213 total staffed hospital beds are available
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