Florida’s COVID-19 death toll surpasses 23,000 as state continues to report high infection rate

ORLANDO, Fla. – As cases, deaths and hospitalizations continue to climb Floridians are eager to receive a vaccine as soon as possible.

In Brevard County, nearly 2,000 new doses of the Pfizer vaccine are expected to be given out in the coming days.

“Health First is honored to be able to continue to protect our community from COVID-19,” Health First Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Jeffrey Stalnaker said.

The vaccines come after Florida reported its highest total of new cases for 2020 on Thursday with close to 20,000 new cases. For a second day, the Florida Department of Health reported more than 19,000 new infections.

More than 443,000 people in Florida have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccines, only about 24,000 of those individuals have received their second shot completing their vaccination.

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[Register for the COVID-19 vaccine in Florida here]

Both Orange and Marion counties reported single-day records when it comes to positive coronavirus cases.

“Now what you’re also seeing, and we haven’t seen the end of it, is the overlapping effect of so many holidays and the travel that happens with the holidays,” Dr. Raul Pino with the Florida Department of Health in Orange County said. “Our numbers could go as high as, it could reach 2,000 cases a day in a couple of weeks.”

Going forward as more and more are vaccinated, Dr. Pino told News 6 he doesn’t expect the rise in cases to change until the summer, with Dr. Todd Husty, Seminole County Medical Director, said he expects to notice a change in the number of deaths sooner because of the vaccines.

“It will have an impact on deaths because we are focusing on people in long term care facilities and then people over the age of 65,” Husty said.

[READ YESTERDAY’S REPORT: Florida reports over 19,000 new coronavirus cases as state awaits more vaccines]

Below is a breakdown of Florida COVID-19 data reported by the state on Jan. 8:

Cases

The Florida Department of Health reported 19,211 new cases on Friday, bringing the state’s overall total to 1,449,252 cases since March.

Deaths

Florida reported 194 new virus-related deaths Friday. This means at least 23,011 people have died in relation to the coronavirus across the state, including 345 non-residents who died in Florida.

Hospitalizations

As of Friday, there were currently 7,415 people with the virus hospitalized in Florida, according to the state Agency for Health Care Administration.

Since March, 65,063 people have been hospitalized in Florida after complications from the coronavirus. That number includes the 359 patients who have been recently hospitalized due to the virus, according to the health department’s daily report.

Positivity rate

The percent of positive results ranged from 10.21% to 12.8% over the past week and was 11.46% Thursday for the 167,705 tests reported.

Health officials say the rate should remain between 5% and 10% to prove a community has a hold of the virus and is curbing infections.

Vaccinations

The Florida Department of Health recently began releasing a daily report on COVID-19 vaccines administered throughout the state. As of Friday afternoon, 443,616 people have been vaccinated in Florida.

See COVID-19 data for the Central Florida region below:

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