Hospitalizations for COVID-19 continue to increase in Florida – Telemundo Miami (51)

COVID-19 continued hospitalizations in Florida Thursday, as the state’s number of coronavirus-related deaths topped 63,000.

There were 11,590 inpatient beds in use for COVID-19 in Florida hospitals, up 212 from the day before, according to figures released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. That’s about 19.98% of the state’s total, according to HHS.

Another 1,473 intensive care unit beds have been used for COVID-19, an increase of 27, according to HHS.

The Florida Hospital Association is reporting 11,207 confirmed admissions of COVID-19, an increase of 152 in one day.

The association said hospitalizations in the state increased 39% last week.

The number of virus-related deaths in Florida rose to 63,081 Thursday, up 262 from Wednesday. Deaths can take days or weeks to be confirmed and reported.

Cases of the new coronavirus in the state decreased, Thursday, to 55,573 compared to 71,742 the day before, according to new figures released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Florida averaged 7 days of daily cases to a record high of more than 65,700 earlier this week.

The huge increase in cases is attributed to the rapid spread of the omicron variant of the virus, as well as a significant increase in people searching for clues.

The 7-day average of testing in Florida set records last week, reaching nearly 180,000, according to the latest available figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That 7-day average fell below 52,000 at the end of November.

Positive new cases in the state rose to 31.2%, according to the weekly report released Friday by the Florida Department of Health. The positivity rate fell to 2.1% in mid-November.

In Miami-Dade County, the positivity rate is 34%. Broward’s positivity rate was 33.5%.