Florida coronavirus: Another record day for daily increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations, deaths

TAMPA (WFLA) — A day after the state reached a significant milestone in surpassing 300,000 total coronavirus cases, Florida health officials have reported another record day for the highest daily increase of coronavirus-related hospitalizations and deaths on Thursday.

Florida hospitals have taken in an additional 491 patients, the latest daily report says. That means 19,825 residents have been hospitalized since the pandemic began.

The previous largest single-day increase was 453 hospitalizations on Wednesday.

The state reported 13,965 new cases of coronavirus and 156 more deaths Thursday morning. A total of 4,677 Florida residents have died from the coronavirus, according to the Florida Department of Health.

Late last week, Florida finally started releasing the number of current coronavirus hospitalizations broken down by county. As of 11 a.m. ET on Thursday, there were 8,626 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 more tests on Wednesday – a total of 116,311 – than the two days prior.

Of the total tests received on Wednesday, 15.42% were positive. The state says it received 98,377 negative results and 17,934 positive cases. 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 12.94%. 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 63,915 confirmed cases in that age group, which is 21% of the state’s total.