I have also published delta variant information and in-depth Covid-19 information.
Since the pandemic began, 1% of all permanent Florida residents at least 65 years old have died due to Covid-19. After steadily declining week by week since August 2021, over the past two weeks, the number of reported deaths has increased in Florida by 16%. Seventeen deaths were reported to the CDC last week from my county alone. However, the state is continuing to claim only 10% of Covid-19 deaths reported for permanent residents of Florida during the past week as “New Deaths” (44 of 423).
Throughout the course of the pandemic, 9% of all hospitalizations in the US have been within Florida. The state had an 8% drop in hospital admission, down from 35% less the prior week. Changes in the school masking and quarantine policies enacted by the new FL Surgeon General on September 22, 2021, may account for the discrepancy in adult vs. pediatric hospitalization rankings.
Between April 1st and November 25th of this year—when vaccinations were available to all Floridians over the age of 16—12.4% of all Covid-19 deaths have occurred in Florida, a state with 6.6% of the population. Since the state began withholding information on June 5, 2021, Florida has had the worst Covid death rate in the nation.
Florida is the only state in the US which is releasing statistics on a weekly, not daily, basis. Information available in those reports is far more limited than what the state formerly provided.
Since October 14, 2021, I have made multiple attempts to access the FL Dept of Health Weekly Report and my browser will not download it due to a potential security risk:
TBT: Why Doesn‘t Florida Trust Its Residents with Basic COVID Information?
On October 18th, I followed the Dept of Health’s recommendation to contact their COVID Data Analytics section, then went outside. When I returned, I had to do a major recovery process following an unauthorized attempt to access my hard drive. I still have not received a response from the FL COVID Data Analytics group. Even the main site for the Florida Dept of Health appears on an unsecure connection: www.floridahealth.gov. I’m now accessing the pdf for the weekly summary via Dr. Jason Salemi’s site:
Here is some of the data from November 19–25, 2021:
- New cases = 9,663; Cumulative cases = 3,686,860
- New deaths = 44; Cumulative deaths = 61,548
- Vaccination rate = 69%
- Fully vaccinated people minus those with booster shots = 9,732,674
- Total booster doses: 2,730,606
Salemi USF: COVID-19 in Florida
The vaccination rate reported by the state rose from 68% to 69%. This figure represents only those eligible for vaccination and includes partially vaccinated people. Florida’s population is currently 21,975,117, so 56.7% have at least completed a vaccination series. People who receive a booster shot are removed from the Series Completed Category and added to the Additional Dose Category.
Note that archived data on influenza statistics is readily available on the FL Dept of Health web site: Florida Influenza Surveillance Reports 2003–2021
This data from November 12–18, 2021, came from Dr. Salemi’s archives. Since October 14th, my browser will not download the FL Dept of Health Weekly Report, citing it as a security risk. Nevertheless, you would not find any archived Covid information on the FL Dept of Health site:
- New cases = 10,828; Cumulative cases = 3,677,968
- New deaths = 37; Cumulative deaths = 61,081
- Vaccination rate = 68%
- Fully vaccinated people minus those with booster shots = 10,068,484
- Total booster doses: 2,276,324
Salemi USF: COVID-19 in Florida
November 18, 2021 Florida Statistics: What is Really Happening?
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Covid Deaths in Florida:
Despite making national news for the state government’s attempt to cover up the number of deaths, nothing has changed in the Florida Department of Health’s methodology.
The Hill: Florida Reported ‘Artificial Decline’ in COVID-19 Deaths as Cases Were Surging
Subtracting the November 25th New Deaths from the Cumulative Deaths should give us the number of November 18th Cumulative Deaths. However, doing that reveals 379 deaths which were not included in the November 25th New Deaths. There was a total of 423 deaths reported in Florida during that week. Yet only 10% of deaths (44) are reflected clearly on the November 25th report. This is a 10% increase from last week (384).
Salemi USF: COVID-19 in Florida
November 11, 2021 Florida Statistics: What is Really Happening?
When the state receives a report of a death from a previous week, that information is added to “Cumulative Deaths” without being noted in “Previous Week Deaths.” It usually takes more than one week for death reports to get sent to the state.
Unless someone knows to compare the two data sets from both weeks, that is not apparent. By removing data from November 18th and adding data from November 25th simultaneously, only people who have saved the older data can see what they are doing. It looks like the death rate is 90% better than it is.
Florida Politics: Florida Reports 1000+ Covid-19 Deaths in Past Week
During November 21–27, 2021, Hillsborough County alone had 17 deaths reported to the CDC:
CDC: COVID-19 Integrated County View, Hillsborough FL
On June 4th, the state removed all data from anyone who has not established permanent residency and stopped reporting information from visitors, seasonal residents, and migrant workers. This deleted 744 deaths. I can no longer access this file, as my browser deems it a security risk:
FL Covid-19 Cases and Monitoring as of June 3, 2021
Florida began withholding previously available information from our state’s residents on June 5, 2021. An analysis by the Tampa Bay Times using CDC data with June 5th as a start date through October 17th indicates that Florida had the worst Covid death rate in the US:
TBT: Why Doesn’t Florida Trust Its Residents with Basic COVID Information?
Over the course of the pandemic, Florida has one of the worst death rates in the nation (286/100,000 people):
CDC: United States COVID-19 Cases, Deaths, and Laboratory Testing by State and Territory
Since August 1st, 21,049 permanent residents of Florida have died from Covid-19. All FL residents at least sixteen years old became eligible for vaccination on April 1st. SARS-CoV-2 infections have killed 27,126 permanent residents of the state since that date to November 25th. Despite having only 6.6% of the US population, this represents 12.4% of all American Covid-19 deaths since everyone at least 16 years old qualified for vaccination.
Trends in Number of COVID-19 Cases and Deaths in the US Reported to CDC, by State
Since the pandemic began, 1% of all permanent Florida residents at least 65 years old have died due to Covid-19 (1001.9/100,000):
Salemi USF: COVID-19 in Florida
The CDC recently updated their algorithm for calculating excess deaths in the US to include six years of data, rather than four, due to the pandemic skewing the expected numbers. Here is that information for Florida. You can click on each bar on their site to see the data for that week:
CDC: Excess Deaths Associated with COVID-19
A comparison of Covid deaths in the six largest US states by September 29th reveals that Florida had the highest proportion when all Americans at least 16 years old were eligible for vaccination:
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Covid Cases in Florida:
On the November 25th report, Florida reported 3,686,860 cumulative cases. Of those, 9,663 were reported as new, a 10.8% decrease from the prior week (10,828). Subtracting the new number from the cumulative one should give us the cumulative number from the prior week: 3,667,197.
However, the November 18th report shows a cumulative number of 3,677,968. This week, the state is under-reporting 771 cases, 7.4% of the total. There were really 10,435 new cases in Florida, a decline of 3.6%.
Salemi USF: COVID-19 in Florida
November 18, 2021 Florida Statistics: What is Really Happening?
On June 4th, the state removed all data from anyone who is not a permanent resident and stopped reporting it. This deleted 43,535 cases.
FL Covid-19 Cases and Monitoring as of June 3, 2021
During the week of November 19–25, 1,005 children under twelve tested positive in Florida, a decrease of 24% over the previous week (1,331). Among those 12–19, 599 tested positive, a decrease of 33% from the prior week (891). In total, 1,604 Florida residents under the age of twenty tested positive, a decrease of 29%. The CDC recommended vaccination for children aged 5–11 on November 2nd. Currently, they have the highest positivity rate in Florida.
Salemi USF: COVID-19 in Florida
November 18, 2021 Florida Statistics: What is Really Happening?
In the Hillsborough County School District, school was closed during November 20–27. Only 46 cases were reported during November 11–18, 0.4% of the 11,850 cases during this school year. Nine weeks ago, the rate of increase was 87%. The school year began on August 10th, and the district instituted a mandatory mask mandate on August 18th. They ended it on October 15th.
HCSD: Covid FrequentlyAsked Questions
My daughters’ high school has had 70 cases, with none in the past ten weeks. During August 28th–September 2nd, the increase from the prior week was 87%. Our elementary school has had 60 cases, the same as the last four weeks.
Hillsborough County Public Schools Covid Dashboard
Here are a few of the FL Dept of Health county positivity rates. Hillsborough County has dropped from the third worst positivity rate (4.9%) to a level closer to the state average of 2.4%:
Salemi USF: COVID-19 in Florida
Dr. Jason Salemi, a professor from the University of South Florida, has been compiling data from the state since May 28th. His county-level data are quite helpful. It indicates that Hillsborough County experienced a 40% increase in cases during November 12–19, 2021 which dropped by 35% a week later:
You can click on the maps for detailed information on each county. He also lists the data for each week since May 28, 2021, when Florida deleted its daily dashboard.
Salemi USF: COVID-19 in Florida
The CDC notes 1,158 new cases in Hillsborough County in the week prior to November 27th:
CDC: COVID-19 Integrated County View, Hillsborough County FL
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Covid Hospitalizations in Florida:
You won’t find any hospitalization information on Florida’s Weekly Surveillance Reports. Florida stopped reporting Covid hospitalizations on June 24, 2021. However, Florida must relay all hospitalization data to the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Florida reported a record 13,028 hospitalizations for Covid-19 on August 24, 2021, to the US Department of Health and Human Services.
Ten weeks ago, Florida had the highest adult hospitalization rate in the US. Over the past two weeks, Florida has remained the second best (from 6.5 to 5.8/100,000).
Florida’s pediatric hospitalization rate dropped from to 37th worst on November 13th to 39th on November 30th (0.45 to 0.38/100,000).
Changes in the school masking and quarantine policies enacted by the new FL Surgeon General on September 22, 2021, may account for the discrepancy in adult vs. pediatric hospitalization rankings. This makes it harder for counties to enforce mandatory mask wearing and allows the parents of children exposed to SARS-CoV-2 to determine whether their children should quarantine or return to school.
Salemi USF: COVID-19 Currently Hospitalized in Florida
TBT 9-30-21: Florida’s School Mask, Quarantine Rules Draw More Criticism
For August 1, 2020–November 25, 2021, Florida had 316,225 new admissions for Covid patients. This represents 9.3% of all Covid admissions in the US for 6.6% of the US population.
You can also find hospitalization statistics on the same CDC COVID Data Tracker, choosing Florida as the Jurisdiction and stratifying by any age:
The daily average during November 19–25, 2021 was 166 new admissions. This represents a decrease of 7% in the past week (from 178) and of 93% from the peak during August 11–17, when there were 10.42 admissions/100,000 Floridians. In general, hospitalizations decreased by several percentage points, except for those aged 0–17 and 30–39, who experienced increases.
On November 25th, there were 0.77 new admissions/100,000 Floridians; 0.84 the week before:
| Age | Admissions |
| 0–17 | 0.18 |
| 18–29 | 0.42 |
| 30–39 | 0.68 |
| 40–49 | 0.54 |
| 50–59 | 0.94 |
| 60–69 | 0.98 |
| 70+ | 1.73 |
| all ages | 0.77 |
The number of people in the hospital is now steadily dropping. One-fourth of hospitalized adults are in the ICU (24%).
Salemi USF: COVID-19 in Florida Hospital Admissions by Age
HHS tracks Hospital Utilization. On November 27, 2021, 72% of hospital beds in Florida were full, down 4% from last week. The 1,272 Covid patients accounted for 2% of utilized beds. However, last week, there were 1,382 hospitalized Covid patients, a decrease of 8%. Three weeks ago, it dropped 35%.
Four percent of ICU beds in use in Florida were occupied by 255 Covid patients. That is up from 3% the previous week (260). It looks like some temporary ICU beds have been removed from service. State-wide, 5 fewer ICU beds were occupied, down 2%. Last week, the drop was 18%:
HHS: Inpatient Bed Utilization by State
Many hospitals are publishing their own occupancy statistics. For example, Tampa General Hospital released this on November 13th:
- There were 15 Covid-19 admissions, up from 14 ten days before
- Four Covid patients were in their ICU, the same number as a week before
Tampa General : Hospital Bed Availability for COVID-19 Patients
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Archived posts on Florida Covid statistics are available here:
Redemptive History and Theology 