Florida adds another 1,296 COVID-19 deaths, 12K more cases

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The latest COVID-19 data from the CDC on Thursday shows an increase of 1,296 deaths from the total reported a day earlier.

Those deaths did not all happen over the past day and span back weeks. The backdating of fatalities shows now that more than 7,600 people died in Florida in August, the deadliest month of the pandemic in the state.

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That equates to an average of 245 deaths per day in August, and there may still be more deaths connected to the virus to be assigned to those dates.

Florida is now up to 3,391,158 cases and 48,273 deaths tied to COVID-19 since the start of the outbreak, the latest CDC data shows.

Another 12,386 new cases were reported since Wednesday.

A look at new COVID-19 cases over time in Florida. (CDC graphic)

New cases and hospitalizations have trended downward in recent days coming off the peak of the summer surge in August when more than 21,000 new infections were being reported per day on average.

The 7-day moving average for new cases in the state is 14,297, the lowest since July 27.

On Thursday, 12,735 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 across Florida, according to the Florida Hospital Association.

Last month, the state health department switched from tallying deaths by the day they were verified to now tracking them by the date a person passed away. The deaths typically take several days to be processed, so a single date’s totals can slowly grow days later and the day-by-day increases appear smaller at first.

The batch of 1,296 deaths reported Thursday is shy of the record 1,338 added the previous Thursday. Another 1,064 deaths were reported in the CDC’s data Monday.

The CDC gets those numbers from the Florida Department of Health, which now only publicly releases its full COVID-19 reports on Fridays.

To find out where you can get a COVID-19 vaccine in South Florida, click here.