COVID-19 cases, deaths in Florida continue to rise

JACKSONVILLE, FLa. Florida reported 16,875 new cases of coronavirus on Friday, pushing the number of residents and visitors diagnosed in the state to 1,548,067. Florida has added nearly a quarter of a million cases since the first of the year, increasing the daily increase to nearly 15,000.

Duval County added nearly 1,000 additional cases Friday. The provinces of St. Johns and Alachua each had more than 200 new cases. There have been 125 new cases in Nassau County – the highest one-day increase.

The Department of Health also reported 188 deaths from COVID-19, bringing the number of deaths in Florida to 24,169 since the Florida pandemic began in early March. Four of the deaths reported Friday were from Duval County, four in St. Louis. Johns, three in Columbia and one each in the provinces of Alachua, Clay and Nassau.

As of Friday afternoon, there were 7,528 patients with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19 in Florida hospitals. There were no intensive care beds available in Columbia, only 5.6% of ICU beds were open in Flagler County, 6.8% in Alachua County, 10% in Clay and Putnam, 12.5% ​​in Nassau, 19.5 % in Duval and 43.2% in St. Johns County.

The rate of positive tests was again higher than 10% on Thursday, where it had been since the new year.

As of Friday morning, 849,317 Floridians have at least one shot of two vaccines approved by the federal government. Demand for the vaccine exceeded supply wherever it was offered, with new appointments being booked within minutes of opening, and lines for anywhere no appointments were needed.

Moskowitz announced on Thursday that plans for a nationwide appointment system for COVID-19 vaccinations should be ready within weeks.

“We are working on a registration system that we will launch in the coming weeks to integrate site registration and to resolve issues we have all read,” he said.

The design of a global online portal is still under discussion and will be made available to provinces – who do not need to use the system – to help them coordinate vaccinations.