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By Michelle Marchante MIAMI — Florida’s Department of Health on Thursday morning confirmed 651 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the state total of known cases to hit and surpass 53,000. The state now has a total of 53,285 confirmed cases.There were also 45 new deaths announced, raising the statewide toll to 2,364.Less than half of the new cases and half of the new deaths were in South Florida:— Miami-Dade County reported 171 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 14 new deaths. The county’s confirmed total is now at 17,396 cases with 669 deaths, the highest in the state.— Broward County reported 45 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and two new deaths. The county’s confirmed total is now at 6,870 with 307 deaths.— Palm Beach County saw 86 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and seven new deaths. The county’s known total is now at 5,541 with 327 deaths.— Monroe County did not see any additional cases of the disease and no new deaths. The Florida Keys now have 107 known cases and four deaths.Here’s a breakdown on what you need to know:CONFIRMED COVID-19 CASES IN FLORIDADespite the daily reports of new cases and deaths, local and state officials have previously said that decreases in the daily total of reported cases are signs that social-distancing measures are working.Officials are also relying on hospitalization data. Unlike testing, which might be limited or take days to report results, hospitalizations can help give officials a real-time visual of how many people are severely ill with COVID-19.The health department says it doesn’t “have a figure” to reflect the number of people currently hospitalized and only provides the total number of hospitalizations in its statewide and county-level data.On Thursday morning, 156 hospitalizations were added, raising the statewide total count to 9,795. Hospitals in Miami-Dade are self-reporting a number of key metrics, including hospitalizations, to the county. Some provide updates every day; others don’t.As of Wednesday, Miami-Dade says it has a total of 634 people hospitalized for COVID-19 related complications.Scientists are also still working to learn more about the virus, including how many people in the community are infected with the disease and have mild or no symptoms, which can make it difficult to determine what percentage of the cases hospitalizations represent.COVID-19 TESTING IN FLORIDATesting in Florida has seen a steady growth since the COVID-19 crisis began and has started to see a steady decline in the percentage of people testing positive.Testing, like hospitalizations, helps officials determine the virus’ progress and plays a role in deciding whether it is safe to lift stay-at-home orders and loosen restrictions.The recommended numbers of daily tests needed vary by experts, but the dean of the University of South Florida’s College of Medicine told the governor Florida needs to test about 33,000 people every day. The state has hit or surpassed the recommended mark a few times this month but is typically several thousands under.Florida’s Department of Health reported 10,351 new tests in Wednesday’s daily COVID-19 update. In total, the state has done 935,271 tests. Of the total tested, 52,634 or 5.63% have tested positive for the disease. The state says there are 955 pending tests. Thursday’s testing data was not immediately available.But health experts told the Miami Herald last month they were concerned the number of pending COVID-19 tests listed by the state is an undercount because Florida reports only the number of Floridians waiting to get test results from state labs, not private ones — and private labs are completing more than 90% of state tests.Previously, it has taken as long as two weeks for the results of pending tests from private labs to be added into the state’s official count, making it difficult for officials to project the size and scale of the pandemic in the state. It’s unclear how quickly results are currently being sent to the state from private labs.———©2020 Miami HeraldVisit Miami Herald at Distributed by —————PHOTO (for help with images, contact 312-222-4194):

Florida coronavirus cases climb past 53,000 as the death toll hits 2,364