Florida sees record-breaking number of new COVID cases, testing over New Year’s holiday

Howard Cohen, Devoun Cetoute

On Saturday, the first reporting day of 2021, the Florida Department of Health confirmed 31,518 additional cases, the highest number recorded yet since the pandemic began — and that’s counting data dumps and two-day reported figures post-Thanksgiving (17,344 on Nov. 27) and post-Christmas (17,042 on Dec. 26).

The state did not report figures on New Year’s Day, Friday. As was the case with Thanksgiving and Christmas Day holiday, Florida is reporting two-day today figures in its post-holiday report.

Florida has now a total of 1,354,833 confirmed cases. Also, 217 new resident deaths were announced, bringing the resident toll to 21,890. Two-day totals for deaths after holidays were 140 on Dec. 26 and 109 on Nov. 27.

Three new non-resident deaths were also announced, bringing the non-resident death toll to 320.

Previously, the highest single-day count recorded was 17,192 on Thursday, topping the July high.

This sudden surge in cases can be attributed, in part, to more people getting tested. On New Year’s Eve, the state reported 218,233 resident tests, levels not seen the pandemic’s beginning. New Year’s Day testing saw 110,060 residents tested, similar to trends over the last two weeks.

Most likely, the tests stemmed from the Christmas holidays, as test results could take up to two weeks to be processed by the state, even with rapid testing.

Also, most testing sites were closed for the New Year’s Day holiday and Hard Rock Stadium closed for testing at 1 p.m. Saturday so the stadium could be ready for Saturday’s Orange Bowl college football game between Texas and North Carolina. That site reopens Sunday morning.

Confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Florida

▪ Miami-Dade County reported 5,314 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 in its two-day report and 51 new deaths, according to Florida’s Department of Health. The county has now had 304,187 confirmed cases and 4,239 deaths. This two-day cases figure is the most reported for the county, topping 3,752 after Thanksgiving’s two-day batch and 3,337 after Christmas. The percent positivity for new cases decreased from 9.92% to 9.3%. The 14-day average positivity was at 9.84%

▪ Broward County reported 2,500 additional confirmed cases and 15 new deaths. The county’s known total is now at 140,110 cases and 1,862 deaths. The percent positivity for new cases decreased from 9.80% to 7.93%.

▪ Palm Beach County saw 2,082 additional confirmed cases and 13 new deaths. The county has 84,972 confirmed cases and 1,908 deaths. The percent positivity for new cases decreased from 9.90% to 8.25%

▪ Monroe County confirmed 107 additional cases and no new deaths. The county has a known total of 4,333 cases and 35 deaths. The percent positivity for new cases decreased from 8.25% to 5.57%.

COVID-19 Vaccines in Florida

Florida is currently giving vaccines to healthcare workers, long-term care facility residents and staff, and people 65 and older, including snowbirds. Some hospitals, including in South Florida, have begun giving the vaccines to people 65 and older. Vaccination sites also opened across the state this week, with Broward set to open its first sites this weekend.

Miami-Dade County has also created a new website to help seniors, and eventually the rest of the general public, find and schedule COVID-19 vaccination appointments.

So far, Mount Sinai Medical Center has been giving vaccinations to seniors but getting an appointment via the website has been difficult. Jackson Health is to release an online platform on Monday, Jan. 4, for seniors to try and book appointments. The Broward Covid Vaccination site at browardcovidvaccine.com has been down for days for “maintenance.”

According to Saturday’s vaccine report, the state has given 243,107 people the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Currently the two vaccines that are available, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, require two doses. The vaccines do not give you COVID-19.

Will COVID-19 vaccines be available at Publix, Walmart, CVS, Walgreens and others?

COVID-19 hospitalizations in Florida

One of the tools that officials rely on to determine whether the coronavirus situation is improving in the state is hospitalization data. Unlike testing, which might be limited or takes days to report results, hospitalizations can help give officials a real-time snapshot of how many people are severely ill with COVID-19.

The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration reports the number of patients hospitalized statewide with a “primary diagnosis of COVID.” The data, which is updated at least every hour, does not distinguish between the number of COVID-19 patients in hospital intensive care units and those in acute-care beds, which require less attention from nurses.

Previously, the state was providing only the total number of hospitalizations in its statewide and county-level data. Miami-Dade was an exception, with hospitals self-reporting a number of key metrics, including hospitalizations, to the county, which has made this data public for several months.

As of 5:01 p.m. Saturday, there were 6,701 COVID-19 patients admitted into hospitals throughout the state, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration dashboard — a figure that grew by more than 100 since 9 a.m. Saturday. This number is at mid-August levels, when more than 5,000 COVID-19 patients were admitted into hospitals throughout the state.

Of Saturday’s hospitalizations, 1,014 were in Miami-Dade, 566 in Broward, 360 in Palm Beach and two in Monroe, according to the agency.

Florida’s current hospitalization data does not always match the hospitalization data reported in Miami-Dade’s “New Normal” dashboard. Officials say this could be for a number of reasons, including the frequency of daily updates.

On Saturday, Miami-Dade hospitalizations for COVID-19 complications increased from 1,090 to 1,105, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard. According to Saturday’s data, 101 people were discharged and 114 people were admitted.

The state has had a total of 63,148 Florida residents hospitalized for COVID-19-related complications, according to Florida’s COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard.

COVID-19 Testing in Florida

Testing in Florida has seen steady growth since the COVID-19 crisis began.

Testing, like hospitalizations, helps officials determine the virus’ progress and plays a role in deciding whether it is safe to lift stay-at-home orders and loosen restrictions.

Epidemiologists use the testing data to create a positivity rate. The rate helps them determine if a rise in cases is because of an increase in testing or whether there’s increased transmission of the virus in the community.

On Saturday, Florida’s Department of Health reported the results of 328,293 people tested since Thursday. The positivity rate of new cases (people who tested positive for the first time) on Thursday decreased from 11.60% to 11.14%, and again decreased on Friday from 11.14% to 10.13%.

Miami-Dade County website to help seniors schedule COVID-19 vaccine appointments

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