TAMPA — After a summer surge that catapulted Florida past New York for the state with the second-highest number of novel coronavirus infections, Monday’s report from the Florida Department of Health offered a glimmer of hope that the virus’ spread could be slowing.
State health officials counted only 4,155 coronavirus infections in the 24 hours leading up to Monday’s report — the lowest daily increase seen in six weeks, since June 23.
But the number of tests conducted in the same time span was also far below normal. The state performed 58,153 coronavirus tests in the 24-hour reporting period. That’s similar to the number of tests performed each day when Tropical Storm Isaias forced most state-run testing sites to close.
State health officials also reported 93 fatalities attributed to the virus since Sunday’s update, bringing the total number of deaths in Florida to 8,408.
Since Florida’s coronavirus outbreak began on March 1, the overall number of coronavirus cases tracked by the state health department has grown to 536,961.
The Tampa Bay area reported 481 new infections Monday and 39 deaths.
That means roughly one in every 38 Florida residents have now been infected by the virus.
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How fast is the number of Florida COVID-19 cases growing?
What’s the picture statewide?
Overall, the number of deaths and new coronavirus infections have begun to drop nearer to pre-summer levels. But while the percentage of people testing positive for the virus has dropped, so has the number of tests conducted by the state.
For example, the Monday update three weeks ago, on July 20, counted 10,347 new infections out of nearly 79,000 tests performed in a single day, giving the state a positivity rate of about 15 percent.
The state counted 58,153 tests samples Sunday — far less than the more than 85,000 tests performed Saturday or the nearly 100,000 tested Friday. Monday’s case load of just over 4,000 new infections is less than half the number of new infections reported that day.
Roughly 8.6 percent of those tests were positive, putting the state’s daily average back below the target 10 percent threshold for moving forward with Gov. Ron DeSantis’ plans for a gradual reopening. The positivity rate, or the percentage of positive results among all tests processed, has peaked as high as 12.3 percent in the past two weeks, records show.
The World Health Organization says Florida remains far outside its recommendations that a state maintain a positivity rate no higher than 5 percent for two weeks before loosening social distancing restrictions.
Based on all tests performed since Florida’s pandemic began on March 1, Florida’s positivity rate is about 17.2 percent, according to the Coronavirus Resource Center at Johns Hopkins University.
That’s the fifth-highest positivity rate in the nation, according to the university.
In terms of caseload, Florida’s 536,961 is the second-highest in the nation behind California, home to a population nearly double its size. On Monday, California surpassed 550,000 cases.
Positivity rates aren’t perfect metrics for tracking the virus, health experts say. Coronavirus data released each day by the Florida Department of Health does not necessarily show what occurred during the previous 24 hours. For example, the record case numbers reported July 12 — the highest daily coroanvirus count on record — appeared to include several days of test results from a single laboratory, according to information provided by the lab.
Instead, DeSantis has begun highlighting hospital visits as the best marker for tracking the virus’ progress. Those too have begun to decline over the past month — which health experts say could indicate that the state will see fewer coronavirus-related deaths in the coming days.
Monday’s update showed 284 more hospitalizations reported in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of people hospitalized since the pandemic began to 31,177.
But data from the Agency for Health Care Administration shows that the number of coronavirus patients admitted into emergency rooms has continued to drop, and the number of patients being treated for the virus in a given day has dropped by about 5 percent since this time last month.
In mid-July, there were at any given time about 8,700 people in Florida hospitals whose primary diagnosis was COVID-19. Last week, the average number of hospitalized patients on a given day was about 8,200.
On Monday, there were 6948 active COVID-19 patients in Florida’s hospitals, according to ACHA. Roughly 16 percent of that total, 1,086 patients, were in hospitals within the Tampa Bay region.
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Is Florida’s coronavirus outbreak still growing?
What’s the picture in Tampa Bay?
The seven counties that make up the Tampa Bay area reported 481 cases Monday and 39 deaths. Thirty-five of those deaths occurred in Manatee County, records show — the largest single-day death toll that county has seen since Florida’s pandemic began March 1.
Two died in Polk County, one died in Pasco and one in Hernando.
Hillsborough County saw its caseload grow to 32,731 — an increase of 144 people — with 393 deaths.
Citrus County reported 1,548 cases and 36 deaths; Hernando County reported 2,028 cases and 49 deaths; Manatee reported 9,340 cases and 229 deaths; Pasco reported 7,114 cases and 130 deaths; Pinellas reported 17,941 cases and 502 deaths; and Polk County reported 14,475 cases and 315 deaths.
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Florida coronavirus cases by age group
Doctors say older people are at a greater risk to developing severe symptoms from COVID-19, which makes Florida especially vulnerable.
This is a developing story. Stay with www.tampabay.com for updates
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