Florida COVID-19 data shows 2,448 new deaths recorded over past week

*Editors Note: The headline and story have been corrected to say the new deaths recorded over the past week are 2,448.*

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — In the Florida Department of Health’s latest weekly pandemic data report, case numbers show another drop in the number of new COVID-19 cases in the past week, but the weekly death toll rose.

In the previous report, 129,202 cases were confirmed from Aug. 27 to Sept. 2. In this week’s report, data from Sept. 3 to Sept. 9 showed 100,249 were confirmed by the DOH.

Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 99,819 cases, from Sept. 3 to Sept. 9 in their daily case tracker.

From Sept. 3 to Sept. 9, the death toll from the current COVID surge totaled 2,448 deaths recorded in the latest report. The state data report says 353 deaths occurred in the past week.

The last report showed 2,345 deaths were recorded in the previous week’s numbers and reported 433 additional deaths.

The positivity rating over the past week was 13.5%, according to the DOH. Last week’s percentage was 15.2%. Cumulatively, the state’s new COVID case positivity is 21.1%, according to DOH.

CDC data shows that the number of hospitalizations in Florida has fallen 18.2% from Aug. 26 to Sept. 1. The current number of daily hospitalizations of children ages 0 to 17, dated from Sept. 2 to Sept. 8, is at 52 in Florida, a decrease from the previous week.

A new morbidity report from the CDC shows that those who are unvaccinated have an 11 times higher chance of dying from COVID-19, and a five times higher chance for infection. The report says the delta variant remains the dominant strain, though a new variant has been reported in multiple states. The rise in cases among Florida residents remains among those ages 16 to 29, unchanged from the previous week’s report.

Vaccinations numbers across the state show a decline in vaccinations week-over-week. The report for Aug. 27 to Sept. 2 reported 462,269 doses administered, while only 349,845 doses were administered in the past week.

The current cumulative total of doses administered reported in the DOH weekly data is 13,281,666 compared to the previous report of 13,124,436, showing an increase of 157,230 vaccinations, between first and second doses administered, and series of vaccinations completed.

To fight back against the spread of COVID-19, President Joe Biden has ordered all federal employees, federal contractors, and businesses with 100 or more employees to have all staff vaccinated against COVID. Multiple Republican governors have promised to fight that order.