Florida reports 4,000 new COVID-19 cases as delayed vaccine shipments arrive

Florida health departments are beginning to receive coronavirus vaccine doses delayed by the winter storm that swept through most of the country last week, waylaying millions of shots.

Last week vaccine efforts in Florida were momentarily impacted by some of the delays. Publix did not open its appointment portal due to the delay but most department of health sites continued with appointments vaccinating those 65 and older.

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The winter storm left millions in Texas without power and some without running water. Around 70 deaths from the storm have been attributed to the snow, ice and frigid temperatures nationwide and more than a dozen were people who perished in homes that had lost heat. Most of those fatalities were in Texas, including an 11-year-old boy who died in his bed near Houston, reports The Associated Press.

Outages and winter weather created challenges for carriers such as UPS and FedEx, which have been on the front lines packaging and shipping the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines around the country. Both UPS’ hub in Louisville, Kentucky, and FedEx’s key hub in Memphis, Tennessee, have been affected. Meanwhile, several states have complained about vaccination delays and have had to cancel appointments.

The fact that 6 million doses have languished in airport hubs for several days during a once-in-a-century pandemic has raised questions about how the U.S. government and the nation’s largest shipping companies haven’t been able — so far at least — to break the logjam.

Next week, the first federally run mass vaccination centers will open, including in Miami, Orlando, Tampa and Jacksonville.

[READ YESTERDAY’S REPORT: Florida reports nearly 5,000 new COVID-19 cases as Biden pushes for more vaccines]

Find the state-run COVID-19 dashboard below:

Overall weekly coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are done across Florida. Cases dropped by nearly 16% and hospitalizations saw a small decrease, however, coronavirus-related fatalities saw a minor increase last week by about 4%.

Below is a breakdown of Florida COVID-19 data reported by the state on Feb. 22.

Cases

The Florida Department of Health reported 4,113 new cases on Monday, bringing the state’s overall total to 1,872,923 cases since the virus was first detected on March 1.

Deaths

Florida reported 161 new virus-related deaths Monday, raising the death toll to 30,595. This number includes the 530 non-residents who died in Florida.

Hospitalizations

As of Monday afternoon, there were currently 4,175 people with the virus hospitalized in Florida, according to the state Agency for Health Care Administration.

Since March, 77,904 people have been hospitalized in Florida after complications from COVID-19. That number includes the 146 new patients who have been recently hospitalized due to the virus, according to the health department’s daily report released on Monday.

Positivity rate

The percent of positive results was 6.82% Sunday of the 60,326 tests reported to the state. 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 Monday afternoon, 2,698,591 people have received at least the first dose of a coronavirus vaccine. The FDOH also reports that 1,398,394 people have received their second shot.

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