FL Sees Another 11K Cases, Hospitalizations Tripled

Miami’s ABC News affiliate reports:

Florida reported 11,433 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, just shy of the state’s single-day record of 11,458 new cases reported last Saturday. The state also reported 93 new deaths a day after announcing 120, which was a new high.

Florida is now up to 244,151 confirmed cases with 4,102 resident deaths associated with the novel coronavirus, according to the latest data released by the health department.

Statewide, Florida reports having completed over 2.4 million tests for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, with 10.1% coming back positive. The rate of positivity among people tested for COVID-19 across Florida topped out at over 18% for tests processed Wednesday. Positivity lowered to 12.7% for tests processed Thursday.

Orlando’s NBC News affiliate reports:

From Miami to Jacksonville and Tampa, hospitals in June and July have seen their numbers of coronavirus patients triple, with new patients outpacing those being discharged.

More than 45% of intensive care units in Florida hospitals were at capacity or had fewer than 10% of their beds available as of Thursday, the state Agency for Health Care Administration reported on its website.

Hospital networks are scrambling to hire more health care workers to expand their COVID units. Last week, hospitals in several cities announced they would again halt or reduce nonemergency procedures to free up space.