Newly released figures are giving some hope that the latest COVID-19 surge in Florida is starting to slow, as hospitalizations in the state have slightly decreased.
There were 11,552 inpatient beds in use for COVID-19 in Florida hospitals, a decrease of 38 from the previous day, according to figures released Friday by the U.S. Department of Heath and Human Services.
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Intensive care unit beds being used for COVID-19 in Florida also dropped down to 1,451, 22 fewer than the previous day, according to HHS.
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There were 59,061 new COVID-19 cases reported Friday in Florida by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That number's about 3,500 more than were reported the day before but well below the number reported on the same day a week ago, when there were 76,791 cases.
Florida's 7-day moving average for cases is starting to decline and was down to 61,500 Thursday, after reaching over 65,600 earlier this week, a new record.
The state is approaching 5 million COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began.
Florida's virus-related death toll rose to 63,084 Friay, an increase of three from Thursday's number. Deaths can take days or weeks to confirm and report.
The 7-day moving average for testing in Florida set record numbers last week, reaching just over 180,000, according to the latest figures available from the CDC. That 7-day average had dropped below 52,000 as recently as late November.
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