The number of patients with the coronavirus in Florida hospitals continues to drop as infection rates stay high, a sign that while more people test positive for the virus they are not necessarily developing severe illness.
There were 15,682 people with the coronavirus being treated in the state's hospitals, a decrease of 106 over Monday, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Of those in the hospital, 3,465 COVID-19 patients were in intensive care, which was 51.45 percent of the state's staffed ICU beds.
Also, Gov. Ron DeSantis said the more than 30,000 people have been able to get monoclonal antibodies at 21 state sites set up over the past two weeks and avoided worsening their symptoms.
The number of coronavirus cases in Florida rose by 18,608 on Tuesday, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Total state cases stand at 3,250,454.
The CDC also reported that the state's deaths related to COVID-19 increased by eight to 44,561.
While the cases and deaths were recorded Tuesday, they may have occurred in previous weeks or months. WUSF's statistics are tabulated on a cumulative basis, while the CDC is adjusting its figures so cases and deaths are recorded on the day they occur as opposed to the day they were reported to the agency.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
9(MDAyNDY5ODMwMDEyMjg3NjMzMTE1ZjE2MA001))
Copyright 2021 WUSF Public Media - WUSF 89.7
