Florida is the only state that reports COVID deaths to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by the date the death occurred rather than the date reported to the state, or a combination of the two, according to a notation on the agency’s website. The way Florida reports can give the appearance overall deaths are decreasing, the CDC notes. “This does not reflect a true decline and data should be interpreted with caution.”

In the last nine days, Florida has seen a slight uptick in in-hospital COVID deaths.

The average number of deaths per day has risen to 33 over the recent 9 days, from 16 deaths on average for the nine-day period prior.