Florida added more than 3,400 new COVID-19 cases Friday, as the virus-related death toll in South Florida reached a grim milestone.
The 3,449 new COVID-19 cases brought Florida's total to 748,437, according to the daily report from the state's department of health. The new cases added Friday is the most in nearly a month.
New hospitalizations of Florida residents with the virus are also showing signs of increasing, this week posting the highest average daily increases in four weeks.
The positivity rate for all Florida cases in Friday's report was 5.32%, a decent drop from Thursday's rate of 6.69%.
The positivity rate of new cases was 4.38%, below Thursday's rate of 5.18%.
With 94 more virus-related deaths among Florida residents, the total rose to 15,830. Another 200 non-resident deaths have been confirmed in the state, four more than were reported Thursday.
Many deaths reported by the state happened days or weeks earlier, as it takes time to confirm causes of death.
In South Florida, the new deaths reported pushed the combined total for Miami-Dade and Broward past 5,000.
Miami-Dade had 177,339 cases, an increase of about 530 since Thursday, along with 3,520 COVID-related deaths, an increase of 19 since Thursday.
Miami-Dade’s seven-day positivity rate was hovering around 4.7% for the last week, though Thursday it posted its lowest rate, 4.1%, in one week.
In Broward County, there were 80,443 COVID-19 cases reported, a daily increase of about 330, along with 1,500 virus-related deaths, eight more than Thursday.
Broward County’s seven-day positivity rate was on the rise, reaching 3.6% for the week ending Thursday, the highest in five weeks.
Palm Beach County had 48,674 cases and 1,478 virus-related deaths Friday, while Monroe County had 2,022 cases and 24 deaths.
While she finds the recent trend “worrisome,” Dr. Mary Jo Trepka, chair of epidemiology at Florida International University, said, “I don’t think we can say that things are definitely increasing yet.”
