TALLAHASSEE --- With more than 1,000 reported deaths in less than two weeks, the number of Florida residents who have died of COVID-19 exceeded 21,000 on Saturday, according to the state Department of Health.
The department’s website showed 21,135 residents have died since the pandemic started. Also, 302 non-residents have died in Florida.
The number of resident deaths increased by 140 from a Thursday count, as the department did not release statistics on Christmas Day. Florida exceeded 20,000 reported resident deaths on Dec. 14, hitting 20,003 that day.
Deaths, positive cases, and hospitalizations surged this fall and have continued into the early days of winter. As of Saturday, 1,264,588 people had tested positive since the pandemic started, an increase of 17,042 from Thursday.
The state Agency for Health Care Administration reported 5,647 people hospitalized Saturday with “primary” diagnoses of COVID-19, including 971 in Miami-Dade County. On Oct. 26, by comparison, 2,252 people were hospitalized with “primary” diagnoses of the disease, according to a daily tally by The News Service of Florida.
Gov. Ron DeSantis and health officials during the past two weeks have touted the start of vaccinations that they hope will ultimately tame the pandemic. DeSantis has focused initially on vaccinating front-line health care workers and nursing home residents and will make a priority of giving shots to people 65 or older --- the part of the population that has made up more than 80 percent of COVID-19 deaths.
“Our first priority for the general population, once the nurses, doctors, and long-term care facilities are done, is to vaccinate people 65 and up,” DeSantis said Wednesday during a stop at Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital Pensacola.
But even among the targeted groups, immunization will be a gradual process. Through Wednesday, 93,077 people had been vaccinated in the state, with 13,134 people age 65 or older, state numbers show.
Also, the Florida Assisted Living Association on Wednesday sent a letter to DeSantis asking when residents of assisted living facilities and adult family care homes will start receiving vaccinations. The letter said the association represents more than 600 assisted living communities.
"All our member facilities, their residents and families, are eagerly awaiting notification as to when they can expect to start receiving the COVID-19 vaccines," said the letter from Veronica Catoe, the association's chief executive officer.
The numbers of Florida resident deaths jumped from 16,449 on Oct. 26 to 18,254 on Nov. 25, a nearly 11 percent increase. (The department did not release numbers on Nov. 26 because of Thanksgiving.)
They increased another 15.8 percent from Nov. 25 to Saturday.
Florida has the fourth-highest number of COVID-19 deaths behind New York, Texas, and California, according to a Johns Hopkins University website that tracks cases throughout the country.
--- Jim Saunders & News Service staff writer Christine Sexton contributed to this story.
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