Florida coronavirus: State surpasses 350k cases, percent positivity drops under 12%

TAMPA (WFLA) — The Florida Dept. of Health reported an additional 12,478 cases of COVID-19 Sunday, pushing the state case total over 350,000.

Florida hospitals have taken in an additional 339 patients, the latest daily report says. A total of 1,637 coronavirus patients have been hospitalized in the last five days.

The new cases of coronavirus reported Sunday brings the state total to 350,047 cases. An additional 87 deaths were also reported, bringing the state’s death count to 4,982.

As of 11 a.m. ET on Sunday, there were 9,293 people hospitalized throughout the state. Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Monday 2,000 additional contracted nurses would be spread throughout the state to respond to the virus outbreak.

The state received 115,149 tests Saturday. Of that total, 14.26% were positive. The state says it received 98,725 negative results and 16,424 positives. The positive results include people who have tested positive more than once – for example, those who tested positive initially and were tested again to see if they still have the virus.

The percent positivity for new cases is 11.85%. Percent positivity for new cases is the number of people who test PCR (nose swabs) or antigen-positive for the first time divided by all the people tested that day. That does not include people who already tested positive once and have been re-tested to see if they’re still infected.

Floridians in the 25 to 34 age group account for the largest percentage of cases throughout the state. There are 70,030 confirmed cases in that age group, which is 20% of the state’s total.