Tallahassee (CBSMiami/NSF) – With new COVID-19 cases decreasing, the number of Florida hospital inpatients with the virus dropped below 11,000, according to data reported Monday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The data showed that 10,794 inpatients had COVID-19, down from 11,468 on Friday. Also, it showed that 1,566 COVID-19 patients were in intensive-care units, down from 1,601 on Friday.
The hospitalization drops came after a Florida Department of Health report released Friday showed that new infections were decreasing after a major surge fueled by the highly contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus.
The report said Florida had 289,204 new cases from Jan. 14 to Jan. 20, down from 430,095 cases the previous week.
Despite the improvement, the hospitalization and case numbers remain far higher than before the omicron variant began moving through the state in December.
(©2022 CBS Local Media. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.)