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Florida reports most new coronavirus cases in one day since July with 10,870

Out of 146,910 test results, 8.19 percent were positive.

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla — The Florida Department of Health on Thursday reported 10,870 new coronavirus cases for Dec. 2.

The last time the state reported a daily number of new cases that high was on July 24 when 12,199 people were said to have tested positive for the virus.

This week, Florida became the third state to report more than 1 million cases, following California and Texas. A total of 1,029,030 people in Florida have tested positive since the pandemic began.

In November, Florida reported 200,753 cases of COVID-19 -- nearly 20 percent of the total number of cases in the state since March.

The state on Thursday also reported another 98 Floridians and two non-residents have died after testing positive for COVID-19. That brings the total to 18,874 residents and 238 non-residents who have died since the pandemic began -- a total of 19,112 deaths in the state related to coronavirus.

Those numbers do not necessarily mean those people died Wednesday, but rather the state learned of their deaths and added the number 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.

As for testing, the health department reported 8.19 percent of 146,910 test results returned from labs were positive for COVID-19 through Dec. 2. The median age of Floridians testing positive is 40.

As for hospitalizations, 4,290 people in Florida were hospitalized with coronavirus as their primary diagnosis as of Thursday morning. Of those, 1,003 patients were in the Tampa Bay area.

Statewide, a total of 55,820 people in Florida have been hospitalized with the virus at some point during the pandemic.

Credit: Florida DOH/10 Tampa Bay

Here's a breakdown of new coronavirus cases reported to the state:

Credit: FL DOH/10 Tampa Bay

Breaking down the numbers

Since mid-July, daily reported COVID-19 cases in Florida remained under 10,000. And, between Sept. 1 and Oct. 16, daily reported cases stayed below 4,000.

That changed on Nov. 15, when the state reported 10,105 new cases for the day prior.

The highest single-day case number Florida has reported so far is 15,300 for July 11. The report released on Nov. 27 of 17,345 newly-reported cases is higher, but that reported combined updates for Nov. 25 and Nov. 26.

The lowest single-day case number the state has reported since early June is 738 confirmed on Sept. 28.

On Oct. 30, Florida became the third state to cross the 800,000 reported COVID-19 cases mark. Then on Dec. 1, Florida became the third state to surpass 1 million confirmed cases. As of Dec. 3, Texas and California have reported more than 1.2 million cases, according to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.

According to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine, the United States has more than 13 million coronavirus cases as of Nov. 30, the highest recorded number in the world.

RELATED: US passes 13 million COVID-19 cases

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 state 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.

The positivity rate is crucial for reopening. The World Health Organization has repeatedly said it must remain at 5 percent or lower for a 14-day span for the agency to recommend reopening.

However, it can be somewhat misleading: The number of people tested statewide varies each day, and recently the percent positive has ranged from above 6 percent to nearly 10 percent.

Health officials say they would like to see a high -- but steady -- number of people tested every day and a suppressed percent positivity figure.

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. The positivity rate reported for Oct. 3 (3.74 percent) is the lowest Florida has seen since early June.

In November, the percent positive rate reported daily didn't drop below 6 percent.

Florida has been in "Phase 3" of reopening since Sept. 25, when Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an order guaranteeing restaurants the right to operate and lifting state-level capacity restrictions on them.

RELATED: 'This is a major priority': Gov. DeSantis outlines current distribution plans for potential COVID-19 vaccines

RELATED: Gov. DeSantis extends order preventing business shutdowns and fines for local mask ordinance violations

Hospitalizations and ICU bed availability

New cases have dropped significantly in recent months, 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 Dec. 3, 4,278 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 as their primary diagnosis statewide, and 999 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 55,820 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 3:30 p.m. Dec. 3, 2020.

Citrus:

65 COVID-19 hospitalizations
58 of 301 total staffed hospital beds are available

DeSoto:

3 COVID-19 hospitalization
36 of 58 total staffed hospital beds are available

Hardee:

0 COVID-19 hospitalizations
0 of 25 total staffed hospital beds are available

Hernando:

52 COVID-19 hospitalizations
197 of 735 total staffed hospital beds are available

Highlands:

55 COVID-19 hospitalizations
29 of 257 total staffed hospital beds are available

Hillsborough:

248 COVID-19 hospitalizations
758 of 4,058 total staffed hospital beds are available

Manatee:

50 COVID-19 hospitalizations
77 of 772 total staffed hospital beds are available

Pasco:

114 COVID-19 hospitalizations
281 of 1,463 total staffed hospital beds are available

Pinellas:

185 COVID-19 hospitalizations
883 of 3,266 total staffed hospital beds are available

Polk:

132 COVID-19 hospitalizations
304 of 1,693 total staffed hospital beds are available

Sarasota:

99 COVID-19 hospitalizations
33 of 1,074 total staffed hospital beds are available