COVID In Florida: Cases Drop Slightly As Hospitals Prepare For 'Critical Staffing Shortage'
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The number of new COVID-19 cases has dropped in the state of Florida for the first in several weeks but despite that, the surge is still a major issue for hospitals.
The Florida Hospital Association reported Friday that 75 percent of the state's hospitals are "expecting a critical staffing shortage in the next 7 days."
FLORIDA
On Friday, with the release of its weekly numbers, the Florida Department of Health reports 150,118 newly reported cases throughout the Sunshine state, down nearly 13-hundred cases from the previous week.
The state vaccination rate is 66%, up from 65% last week.
There were another 346 newly reported deaths for a total of 42,252 deaths.
The state's new case positivity rate rose to 19.8%. It was 19.3% the previous week.
MIAMI-DADE
Miami-Dade County's vaccination rate rose from 83% to 85%.
There were 19,906 newly reported cases last week, down 1,655 cases from the previous week.
It also has a 12.6% new case positivity rate, up slightly from 12.4%.
BROWARD
In Broward, there were 13,521 new cases last week, down about 11-hundred from the previous week.
Broward's vaccination rate is up to 76% from 74% last week.
Broward also has a new case positivity rate of 16.1% down from 16.5%.
MONROE
Monroe County increased its vaccination from 74% to 75%.
It added 491 new cases last week, down 13 cases from the previous week.
It also decreased its positivity rate slightly from 22.4% to 22.2%.