WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Two years ago on March 1, 2020, the Florida Department of Health announced the first two COVID-19 cases in the state.
After 730 days of the pandemic, residents' infections have risen to 5,808,620, including 2,164 new daily ones posted Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The average is 7,957 per day.
Those first two cases were listed as presumptive in Hillsborough and Manatee counties.
Four days later, on March 5, the first two fatalities were reported in Santa Rosa and Lee counties.
At the time there was little testing, with just 31 listed by the CDC on March 1. It didn't hit four digits until 1,268 on March 12.
Since then testing ramped up tremendously, including state-run sites. In all 54,130,813 tests have been performed at sites with the record 276,593 on Jan. 3 with some of the 21,480,00 residents getting tested more than once.
During the first 365 days, there were 1,896,842 cases, with the average of 5,123 cases per day — about half as many in the past year. And there were 32,056 deaths at an average of 89 each day vs. 97 the next year. On March 1, 2021, 86 deaths were posted.
Now, 89.5% of all adults have received at least one dose with two shots at 75.9% and boosters 40.8%. People 5 and older can be get the vaccine.
During the first year of the pandemic, the health department issued daily reports. But they were scrapped on June 4, 2021, with weekly reports that contain less information, including no county deaths data. And the dashboard is gone, including finding cases by ZIP code.
However, the CDC provides daily updates on cases, deaths and tests along with vaccine information. Also, the state lists weekly fatality data for counties. In last week's report, Miami-Dade led with 10,321 deaths followed by Broward at 5,546 and Palm Beach at 4,893.
On March 1 a year ago, 2,022 cases were posted.
Records during the first year were 19,407 cases on Jan. 6, 2021 and 245 deaths on Aug. 4, 2020.
In the past year, the world endured two variants: delta during the summer and omicron starting in December.
Over the past 365 days, 3,938,778 cases have been reported at an average of 10,791 daily. And deaths are 38,191 at an average of 97 per day.
The record was 76,618 cases on Jan. 8. The most deaths: 434 on Aug. 27 during the delta surge.
The omicron has now subsided through many parts of the world, including Florida. On Sunday, only 1,392 cases were reported, which is the lowest since 1,329 Dec. 6.
The seven-day rolling daily average is 2,644, the lowest since 2,615 Dec. 15. The weekly average record was 65,286 Jan. 8. On Nov. 29 the daily total was 1,160.
The first-time positivity rate has also gone through highs and low. In the most recent weekly report from the state, the percentage is 5.6% with the target 5.0. It reached as high as 31.2% seven weeks ago.
Before the state scrapped daily reports, the lowest daily rate was 3.03% on May 25. In the week of May 17-30, 2020, before testing ramped up, it was below 3.0% for eight days, including 0.62% one day for an average of 2.82%.
Florida passed 5 million cases on Jan. 15, 4 million on Dec. 28, 2021; 3 million on Aug. 19, 2021, 2 million March 27, 2021 and the first million on Dec. 2, 2020. The first cases were reported in Florida on March 1, 2020.
Deaths passed 70,000 residenrs on Monday. Since going to weekly reports, the state no longer lists nonresident cases or deaths.
In both categories, Florida is third behind No. 1 California and No. 2 Texas. During the first year, New York led in cases and deaths, including 800 one year, but has since dropped to fourth place.
Hospitalizations have also risen and declined over the past two years.
It fell under 3,000 for the first time in two months with 2,922 reported Monday then 2,830 the next day, in data gathered by the U.S. Department and Human Services. It's the fewest since 2,406 Dec. 27.
Of the 233 hospitals reporting Tuesday, 5.05% of the available beds are occupied with coronavirus patients. Total beds in use: 43,874.
The record low was 1,228 Nov. 29 (2.24%) and the record high 17,295 (29.35%) Aug. 29.
On March 1 one year ago, the number hospitalized was 3,686, according to the COVID tracking project.
Before the omicron peak, the high was 12,651 on Sept. 11.
