WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida surpassed 400,000 cases with an increase of a U.S.-high 12,444 – just nine days after reaching 300,000 and doubling in 19 days – as deaths increased by 135, which was 38 below the record the day before. Also, the daily positive rate was nearly 7 percentage points above the 10 percent target rate, the Florida Health Department announced Friday.
Palm Beach County's deaths increased by a state-high 17 to 744, a total that is the second highest in the state, after 18 Thursday and a record 21 one week ago Friday. On the Treasure Coast, St. Lucie rose by 1 to 95, Martin remained at 58 and Indian River stayed at 31. Okeechobee reported its first two deaths one week ago Saturday.
Since the first two cases were announced four months ago on March 1, Florida's total has surged to 1.9 percent of the state's 21.48 million population at 402,312. Cases rose by 79,310 over one week for a 24.6 percent gain.
Deaths have hit triple digits nine times, all within the past two weeks. The death record of 173 was Thursday after an increase of 139 Wednesday and 134 Tuesday. Other 100-plus dats were 128 one week ago Friday, 156 on July 16, 112 on July 15, 132 on July 13 and 120 on July 9.
Since the first two deaths were announced on March 6, the toll has climbed to 5,653 of residents into eighth place in the U.S. The number of nonresident deaths increased by 1 to 115 for a total death count of 5,768.
State and county increases represent deaths received by the state Thursday and not the number of fatalities that occurred then. The day someone dies and when it is received by the state can lag for several days. So far, the date with the most deaths was 108 on July 13.
On Friday, the state's list of deaths and cases noted 136 deaths were added since Thursday and 1 resident was removed because it was "ruled out" as coronavirus-related for a net increase of 135. There also was a reduction in the state database by 1 on Thursday.
Palm Beach County increased by 85 deaths in one week. Miami-Dade climbed to 1,370, which was an increase of 16 in one day and 100 in one week. Broward increased by 10 to 546 and 69 over over 7 days.
In South Florida, there were 44 of the 135 deaths reported Friday for a total of 2,846 for 50.3 percent though the population only comprises 30 percent.
Pinellas is in fourth place with 367, a rise of 3 and Hillsborough is at 280 with an increase of 2. Lee has 252, which increased by 5.
Texas reported the most deaths, 196, one less than the record Wednesday and is now in ninth place overall, passing Connecticut earlier this week. No. 4 California set a state record with 159 followed by Florida, No. 12 Georgia with 82, No. 15 Arizona with 79 and No. 24 South Carolina with 51.
In cases, Florida was No. 1 with California second at 9,718 and Texas with 8,701. California has the most cases in the nation followed by New York, Florida and Texas.
Thursday's increased case total was 10,249. For two days this week the cases were under 10,000 – Wednesday's was 9,785 and Tuesday's was 9,440.
Cases in Florida had stayed below 2,000 until June 13 with 2,581 and they often were under 1,000 with the last one of three digits 966 on June 8.
The cases record was 15,300 was July 5 – the highest daily figure ever in the United States. During the height of the pandemic New York also surpassed 11,000.
Testing in Florida has dramatically ramped up from just a few at select sites to massive places throughout Florida as well as nursing homes, jails and farm workers. The total now is 3,281,087, fourth in the nation, behind No. 1 New York, No. 2 California and No. 3 Texas. That Florida figure is 15.2 percent of Florida's population.
The overall positive rate was a record 12.26 compared with 12.13 Thursday.
Several weeks ago the daily rate was around 2-3 percent but has risen to 16.65 percent of 106,280 coronavirus or anti-bodies tests reported by labs Thursday after 16.11 the day before with 93,639, a record 20.71 percent of 51,686 on July 8 when there were 51,686 tests. The lowest over two weeks was 12.89 percent on July 12.
The record test total was 142,964 July 11.
Every South Florida counties' daily positive rate was above the 10 percent target rate. They were 19.7 in Miami-Dade, 15.7Broward, 12.1 in Palm Beach, 9.5 in Martin, 18.9 in Okeechobee, 10.8 in Indian River and 15.0 in St. Lucie. Palm Beach reached as high as 16.1 over two weeks on July 13. And Miami-Dade's highest was 26.4 on July 8.
The state reported 13.31 percent of people who tested for the first time were positive on tests received Thursday compared with 12.29 the day before, which was the lowest in two weeks, and 12.76 two weeks ago.
With more testing and no requirements for someone to take a test, the median age is at 40, but 42 for tests reported Thursday. In addition, the state mortality rate has subsided to 1.4 percent among residents but among those under 55 it is less than 0.2 percent.
And at one time, 23,225 have been hospitalized, which is an increase of 581 in one day, compared with 401 the day before.
Cases
In Palm Beach County, new cases were 737 compared with 761 the day before. The record was 1,171 July 5 for a total of 29,004 including residents and nonresidents.
Miami-Dade's cases increased 3,362 compared with 2,723 the day before, and Broward at 1,566 vs. 1,263 in the Treasure Coast area, the rise was 139 in St. Lucie, 43 in Martin, 70 in Indian River and 27 in Okeechobee.
In one week, Palm Beach County has risen by 4,643 cases for a 19.1 percent gain. Miami-Dade has risen by 20,563 at 26.4 percent and Broward by 9,663 at 21.5 percent.
Over seven days, Martin County climbed by 334 cases for 11.0 percent, St. Lucie County rose by 742 for 18.5 percent, Indian River County by 374 for 25.6 percent and Okeechobee by 187 for 30.7 percent.
Deaths
Deaths rose by 848 in the state over seven days for 15.4 percent and in Palm Beach County it was 85 for 12.9 percent. Recently, the weekly state increase was in the 200s. The U.S. figure is 4.3 percent with the world at 6.5 percent.
Palm Beach County's death count is higher than 21 states, including Nevada at 722 with a gain of 13 and Kentucky at 691 with 7 more.
The state on Friday identified 17 fatalities in Palm Beach County: 9 men ranging from 49 to 98 and 8 women ranging from 50 to 97. St. Lucie's death was n 88-year-old woman.
Tests
Palm Beach County has 29,004 cases out of 231,777 total tested for 12.5 percent overall, not including those awaiting tests and inconclusive. Anything 10.0 percent and above is considered out of "target range" by the health department.
Miami-Dade leads with 98,430 positive cases out of 547,830 tested for 18.0 percent, and Broward is second with 46,576 cases and 350,194 tested for 13.3 percentage.
In Martin County, it's 3,357 of 22,972 for 14.6 percent. In St. Lucie, it's 4,153 out of 35,309 for 11.8 percent, Indian River with 1,837 out of 22,356 for 8.2 percent and Okeechobee with 797 out of 5,649 for 14.1percent.
Mortality rate
The mortality rate, which compares positive cases against deaths, has been trending down in the state.
It is 1.4 percent in the state for all deaths and cases, including nonresidents, compared with 3.5 percent in the United States and 4.0 percent worldwide, which neared 642,000 deaths and neared 16.0 million cases Friday.
Palm Beach County's rate was 2.6 percent, compared with Broward at 1.2 percent and Miami-Dade with 1.4 percent. With much fewer deaths, the mortality rate is 2.3 percent in St. Lucie, 1.7 percent in Martin, 1.7 percent in Indian River and 0.25 percent in Okeechobee.
Florida has 263 deaths per 1 million people compared with the U.S. average of 449 per million. New York, which represents less than one-quarter of the deaths in the nation, has 1,679 per million. Worldwide, the figure is 82.3 per million.
Age breakdown
The youngest deaths are a 9-year-old girl from Putnam identified Wednesday as well as the two 11-year-olds, a boy in Miami-Dade and a girl in Broward, who are the only three in the 5-14 age class.
There are 14 deaths in the 15-24 class with the addition of a 20-year-old male from Broward, joining in the coumty another 20-year-old male and two 22-year-old females. Others in the state include a 16-year-old girl from Lee, a 17-year-old boy from Pasco and a 22-year-old woman from Palm Beach County.
Thirty-nine people from 25 to 34 also have died from the virus with 3 additions.
A total of 1,931 people 85 and older have died in the state from the virus, an increase of 36 in one day.
Ninety-two percent of the fatalities are 55 and older and 62 percent 75 and older. A smaller percentage of older people have tested positive – 26 percent age 55 and older and 6 percent 75 and older.
At the other end of the age spectrum, there are 6,577 cases of infants to 4 years old, an increase of 253, and 121 were hospitalized, which was an increase of 5. From ages 5-14, there are 14,728 , an increase of 622 with 91 in the hospital at one time, which went up by 1.
From the infant to 54 age group, 290,794 of the 397,470 residents have tested positive. But in that group, 418 have died, increase of 12, for a 0.14 death percentage.
From infant to 65, there are 340,966 cases. A total of 982 have died, an increase of 39, for a 0.29 percentage.
Cities
West Palm Beach is in first place among Palm Beach County cities with 7,156 an increase of 191. Lake Worth, which includes the city and county portion, rose 118 to 5,297, followed by Boynton Beach at 2,552 from 2,471, Boca Raton at 3,714, up from 3,610, Delray Beach at 1,948 from 1,896. A total of 556 in the county not designated by a city.
Port St. Lucie leads the Treasure Coast with 2,456, an increase of 86, followed by Stuart with 1,645 vs. 1,629.
In Indian River County, Fellsmere, which has a population of 5,754, increased by 11 to 325, compared with only 3 on May 31.
Hospitalizations
A total of 23,225 people in the state have been hospitalized, a rise from 20,191 seven days ago. That means it is a running total and includes people who have been released or died.
The number is 2,423 in Palm Beach County, an increase of 32 compared with 28 the day before; 290 in Martin, an increase of 4; 276 in St. Lucie with an increase of 2, Indian River rose by 2 to 126 and Okeechobee went from 66 to 68.
Long-term care
Nearly half of the deaths, 2,599 are residents and staff of long-term care, including 307 in Palm Beach County. The state increase was 42 and in Palm Beach County it was 6.
National
Since the first death was reported on Feb. 29, the toll has risen to 148,490, including an increase of 1,141 Friday after 1,116 Thursday and 1,205 Wednesday.
The increase Wednesday is the highest since 1,233 on May 29.
Johns Hopkins reports 145,333 deaths.
Cases reached 3,248,327, with an increase of a record 78,009. They have exceeded 70,000 six times.
Last Friday in the U.S., there were 946 more deaths and 74,987 more cases reported.
The one week U.S. death increase was 6,426 at 4.5 percent.
New York has the most deaths in the nation with 32,665, including 9 more Friday, among the lowest since the outbreak, after a high of 799 in April.
Among other states in the top 10: No. 2 New Jersey with 33, No. 3 Massachusetts with 14, No. 5 Illinois 17, No. 6 Pennsylvania 19, No. 7 Michigan 5, No. 10 Connecticut 4.
Washington, which was the original epicenter in the United States, is in 21th place with an additional 12.
Worldwide
The U.S. represented 18.4 percent of the 6,199 additional deaths Froday -– and 23.1 percent of the world total though its population is only 4.3 percent of the global total. The one week world death increase was 39,005 at 6.5 percent.
Cases increased by a record 289,028.
Brazil, which is second behind the United States for deaths, reported a world-high 1,178 deaths, just 37 ahead of the U.S., for a total of 85,385. The record is 1,492 on June 4. Brazil added 58,249 cases for a total of 2,348,200 – more than half as many as No. 1 U.S.
Mexico reported 737 more deaths late Friday compared with a high of 1,092 on June 4. Mexico is in fourth place with a total of 42,645. In addition, there were 7,573 cases, behind a record 8,438 Thursday.
India added 761 deaths after a record 1,120 two days ago to rise to 31,406 in sixth place. The Asian nation also reported a record 48,892 cases for a third-place total of 1,337,022 behind the U.S. and Brazil.
Four European nations are in the top 10. The United Kingdom's deaths increased from 53 to 123 for third place with 45,667. The daily high was 1,172. No. 5 Italy, which at one time was the world's epicenter and reached 919 in one day, reported 5 deaths, among the lowest. No. 7 France gained 10 deaths and No. 8 Spain 3.
No. 9 Peru had 189 and No. 10 Iran 215.
Russia is in fourth place in the world in cases with 800,849, including an additional 5,811. The nation gained 154 deaths for 11th place.
No. 14 Canada added 7 deaths for a total of 8,881 as well as 534 cases.
Sweden, which has been doing "herd immunity," reported 10 deaths for a total of 5,697 in 20th and 82 cases. Neighboring Norway, which had a lockdown, reported no deaths for the fifth day in a row to remain at 255 as well as 7 more cases.
No. 23 China, the original epicenter of the world, hasn’t reported a death since April 26, added 34 cases Saturday.
Japan reported a record 925 cases as well as 2 deaths to rise to 992 Friday and in 56th place.