MIAMI — In the past seven days, Florida has added 3,357 COVID-19 cases and 19 deaths per day, on average, according to Miami Herald calculations of data published by the CDC.
Over the past three weeks, on average, 101 more cases were logged each day in Florida, showing an increase in trends.
As of Tuesday, more than 14,363,750 people have been fully vaccinated in Florida. The state has logged at least 5,911,764 cases and 73,869 deaths since the pandemic began in March 2020.
The number of cases is likely an undercount due to positive results from at-home COVID testing. The state also only tracks resident cases and deaths, excluding nonresidents.
Here’s a breakdown of what to know this week:
COVID spread in South Florida
Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Monroe and Manatee counties have a low COVID risk level, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This risk level is the lowest of the CDC’s three levels: low, medium and high.
Under this risk level, the CDC no longer offers recommendations for the use of masks. It does advise to maintain improved ventilation while indoors when possible.
For the immunocompromised, the CDC recommends having a plan for rapid testing and for talking to your doctor about treatments such as oral antivirals, PrEP and monoclonal antibodies.
It does note, however, that “at all levels, people can wear a mask based on personal preference, informed by personal level of risk. People with symptoms, a positive test, or exposure to someone with COVID-19 should wear a mask.”
In the period April 8-14, Florida has seen 15,589 new cases, according to Miami Herald calculations of the CDC’s Community Profile Report published Tuesday.
New cases were 38% more than those added the previous week. This is the highest increase in new weekly cases the state has seen in over a month.
Florida has added 133 deaths in the past week, according to Herald calculations of the CDC’s Tuesday Community Profile Report.
It is unclear when these newly reported deaths occurred. The Community Profile Report updates Florida’s county tolls and rates about once every seven days.
As of Tuesday’s Community Profile Report, Florida had a rate of 344 cumulative deaths per 100,000 people since the start of the pandemic.
The number of people hospitalized with COVID has increased for the first time in about two months. There were 985 people hospitalized in Florida, with 94 in the ICU, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services report on Tuesday.
Over the past three weeks, on average, two more people were hospitalized each day in Florida, showing an increase in hospital trends. However, ICU patients are still continuing to trend downward.
Although newly reported cases during the omicron surge surpassed those reported during the delta surge, hospitalizations have not.
At delta’s August peak, more than 15,000 patients were hospitalized in Florida, according to HHS data.
Miami-Dade County no longer collects and reports COVID hospitalizations data in its “COVID-19 Daily Dashboard.”
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