Florida Reports 4,752 New Coronavirus Cases, 73 More Deaths; Positivity Rate Decreasing

Florida on Monday saw its smallest one-day increase in coronavirus cases dating back to June, as the share of coronavirus tests coming back positive in the state continued to decrease.

With a percent positive of 9.09%, the new case rate for COVID-19 in the state fell below 10% for the second-straight day in a row.

When all tests are considered, the rate fell to 12.70% for tests reported Monday, the lowest level since June 24.

"We are encouraged by some of the trends we are seeing," Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a news conference at Broward Health in Fort Lauderdale Monday. "We continue to see a downward trend in visits to the emergency department with people with COVID-like illnesses, we've seen a peak in COVID-positive patients that are hospitalized statewide."

The encouraging trend comes as Florida added 4,752 new infections to its case list, the smallest one-day increase since June 23. That is partly a result of a smaller number of test results, with just under 61,000, being received Sunday, the lowest batch in about a month, but it also reflects the the lower positivity rate for those tests that were reported.

Tropical Storm Isaias led to testing sites in the state closing, though it hasn't been confirmed to be the reason the total cases dipped. The last lowest total came days after testing centers were closed for the July 4th holiday.

The state now has 491,884 confirmed COVID-19 cases dating back to March.

Deaths confirmed of Florida residents increased by 73 in Monday’s report from the state Department of Health. Over the last week, the state has confirmed an average of 175 deaths a day.

Because it takes time to confirm deaths are COVID-related, there is a delay in reporting. For example, about half of the 73 deaths reported Monday occurred one week ago or earlier.

The state has reported 7,157 resident deaths related to the virus.

The median age of people who tested positive in the latest results was 42, about the average age of cases for the past two weeks.

Statewide, more than 3,758,000 people have been tested for COVID-19.

In South Florida, Miami-Dade County's case total rose Monday by about 950, to 123,644, and the county's virus-related deaths rose by 5, to 1,694.

Miami-Dade's daily positive rate was 12.5%, well below the 145-day average of 17.3%, according to Monday's updated new normal dashboard.

In Broward County, there were 58,531 COVID-19 cases reported, a daily increase of about 556, along with 748 virus-related deaths, 3 more than Sunday.

Broward's percent positive was down to 8.4%, the lowest in more than a week.

Palm Beach County had 34,550 cases and 845 virus-related deaths Monday, while Monroe County had 1,379 cases and 11 deaths.