Florida Coronavirus Deaths Top 10,500; Cases Surpass 605,000

Florida reported mixed results Tuesday in flattening its COVID-19 curves on various fronts, revealing a higher daily case count, deaths and positivity rate compared to Monday, but a drop in hospitalizations.

The Florida Department of Health (FDOH) confirmed 2,673 new cases, taking the total to 605,502 since the state confirmed its first two COVID-19 cases March 1. Florida's total new cases came to 2,258 on Monday, the lowest single-day count reported in two months and the third consecutive day of fewer than 3,000 new infections.

Tuesday was also the 11th straight day the FDOH reported fewer than 5,000 new cases in a day. FDOH hasn’t reported a daily increase above 10,000 cases since July 25. Florida's highest single-day case total was 15,300 on July 12.

Miami-Dade County and Broward County combineded for almost 1,000 of the new cases Tuesday. Miami-Dade, Florida's most populous county, reported 773 new cases, 24 deaths, and a positivity rate of 9.35%, the highest among all counties in the state. Broward County reported 201 new cases, 15 deaths and a more tolerable 5.66% positivity rate.

There were 183 Florida resident deaths Tuesday and no new non-resident deaths, bringing the resident death toll to 10,580. Only 72 deaths were reported Monday and zero new non-resident deaths. FDOH warned the daily death toll doesn't reflect deaths occurring over the past 24 hours, but over recent weeks.

The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration reported 4,545 hospitalizations statewide Tuesday compared to 4,635 hospitalizations before noon Monday. The state had 4,579 hospitalizations at the same time Sunday. Of total hospitalizations Tuesday, there were 831 in Miami-Dade, 584 in Broward, 243 in Palm Beach counties.

FDOH said the state's positive rate of new cases (meaning people that tested positive for the first time) was 7.49% on Tuesday compared to 5.02% on Monday. It said more than 6 million tests have been conducted on 4.47 million people in Florida since the pandemic began. Of the total tested, 605,502 returned positive results.

Florida still has the third highest number of coronavirus cases in the United States after California and Texas.