Florida coronavirus: Percent positivity below 10% for second straight day

TAMPA (WFLA) — The Florida Department of Health reported a percent positivity rate below 10% among new coronavirus tests for the second straight day.

The state counted just 60,994 tests Sunday, as a number of testing sites around the state temporarily closed due to Tropical Storm Isaias. Of those tests, health officials reported 4,752 positives — the fewest since June 23.

The state reported 216 additional COVID-19 hospitalizations and 73 more deaths Monday. A total of 7,157 Floridians have died with coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic, according to FDOH.

The 4,752 new positive cases bring the total case count to 491,884.

Of the test results received Sunday, 12.7% were positive. The state counted 7,747 positive results and 53,247 negative test results. This includes people who tested multiple times.

The percent positivity for new cases was 9.09% on Sunday. Percent positivity for new cases is the number of people who test PCR (nose swabs) or antigen-positive for the first time divided by all the people tested that day. That does not include people who already tested positive once and have been re-tested to see if they’re still infected.

It’s the second day in a row the percent positivity has been under 10%, something that hasn’t happened since June 17, 18.

“These are encouraging trends, but obviously there’s more work to do,” DeSantis said during his COVID-19 update Monday afternoon in Ft. Lauderdale.

Floridians in the 25 to 34 age group account for the largest percentage of cases throughout the state. There are 94,660 cases in that age group, which is 19% of the state’s total. Of those cases, 1,661 have been hospitalized and 52 have died.