14,896 New Coronavirus Cases Bring Florida's Total Over 1.5 Million

Florida added 14,896 coronavirus cases on Tuesday to become the third state to push past 1.5 million total cases. Florida ranks behind California (2.7 million) and Texas (1.9 million).

The state Department of Health on Tuesday also reported 165 deaths due to complications from COVID-19 over a 24-hour period. That brought the total to 23,585, with 23,227 Florida residents included.

The department says deaths reported on a given day may have happened days or weeks earlier.

The number of cases has more than doubled over the past three months. On Oct. 12, the state reported a total of 736,024 cases. On Nov. 12, the department reported 863,619 cases, meaning the state has seen a 74 percent increase during the past two months.

Tuesday's positivity rate was 10.62 percent.

There were 64 new hospitalizations statewide since Monday.

Of note, decreasing hospitalizations were reported in nearly every county across the greater Tampa Bay region. The exception was Hillsborough County, which had 20 new hospitalizations.

To look up capacity at your local hospital, check this NPR tool.

State Totals (as of Tuesday, Jan. 12):

• Positive Tests – 1,503,482 |Deaths – 23,585

Daily Changes:

• State: Positive Tests – 14,896 | Deaths – 165

Greater Tampa Bay Region:

• Positive Tests – 2,590 | Deaths – 59

Daily Testing (statewide):

• Tests Received – 161,444 | Positivity Rate – 10.62%

ABOUT THE DATA: The Florida Department of Health produces a daily update around 11 a.m. with information about COVID-19 cases and deaths that were reported over the previous 24 hours. Cases and deaths in the report may have happened days or weeks earlier, according to state officials. The state separately tracks cases and deaths that occurred on specific days on its dashboard and those totals are frequently updated.

Florida COVID-19 daily total of positive tests/deaths for the last two weeks:

• Jan. 12: 14,896/165
• Jan 11: 11,575/ 159
• Jan. 10: 12,313/ 111
• Jan. 9: 15,445/139
• Jan. 8: 19,530/194
• Jan 7: 19,816/170
• Jan 6: 17,783/132
• Jan. 5: 15,431/100
• Jan. 4: 11,256/105
• Jan. 3: 10,603/100
• Jan. 2: 31,518/220*
• Jan. 1: No data reported
• Dec. 31: 17,192/133
• Dec. 30: 13,871/139

* Totals from Jan. 2 include information from two days, because the Florida Department of Health did not release a report on New Year’s Day.

Reporter Daylina Miller contributed to this report.

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