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Coronavirus Numbers

Florida reports 3,615 new COVID cases, as more than 1,000 people remain hospitalized around Tampa Bay

The state has reported 1,830,988 confirmed cases since the pandemic began.

Credit: AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File

FILE: In this Jan. 27, 2021, file photo, people stand in line to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the Jackson Hospital in Miami.

TAMPA, Fla — Florida added 3,615 coronavirus cases for Feb. 14, according to the Department of Health's latest report.

A total of 1,830,988 people in Florida have tested positive for coronavirus since the pandemic began.

On Monday, the state also reported another 155 Floridians and four non-residents had died after testing positive for COVID-19. That brings the total to 28,934 residents and 600 non-residents who have died since the pandemic began – a total of 29,534 deaths in the state related to the virus.

Those numbers do not necessarily mean those people died Sunday, 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.

Credit: 10 Tampa Bay

As for testing, the health department reported 6.83 percent of 66,165 test results returned from labs were positive for coronavirus through Feb. 14.

The median age of Floridians testing positive is 41.

As for hospitalizations, 4,697 people in Florida were hospitalized with coronavirus as their primary diagnosis as of Monday morning. Of those, 1,022 patients were in the Tampa Bay area.

Statewide, a total of 76,219 people in Florida were hospitalized with the virus at some point during the pandemic.

Credit: 10 Tampa Bay

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

Credit: 10 Tampa Bay

Understanding 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 19,816 for Jan. 6. The report released on Jan. 2 of 31,518 newly-reported cases is higher, but that reported combined updates for Dec. 31 and Jan. 1.

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. The United States has more than 27.6 million coronavirus cases as of Feb. 15, the highest recorded number in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.

California and Texas have 3.4 and 2.5 million cases, respectively.

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

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.

Hospitalizations and ICU bed availability

New cases have been on the decrease in recent weeks, 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 Feb. 15, 4,697 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 as their primary diagnosis statewide, and 1,022 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 76,219 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 10:30 a.m. on Feb. 15, 2021

Citrus:

42 COVID-19 hospitalizations
75 of 303 total staffed hospital beds are available

DeSoto:

1 COVID-19 hospitalization
40 of 59 total staffed hospital beds are available

Hardee:

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

Hernando:

54 COVID-19 hospitalizations
195 of 732 total staffed hospital beds are available

Highlands:

39 COVID-19 hospitalizations
27 of 259 total staffed hospital beds are available

Hillsborough:

253 COVID-19 hospitalizations
880 of 4,114 total staffed hospital beds are available

Manatee:

55 COVID-19 hospitalizations
92 of 774 total staffed hospital beds are available

Pasco:

82 COVID-19 hospitalizations
274 of 1,458 total staffed hospital beds are available

Pinellas:

247 COVID-19 hospitalizations
730 of 3,172 total staffed hospital beds are available

Polk:

195 COVID-19 hospitalizations
331 of 1,714 total staffed hospital beds are available

Sarasota:

54 COVID-19 hospitalizations
179 of 1,266 total staffed hospital beds are available

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