WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida's new coronavirus deaths increased by 180, including a Palm Beach County-record 27, and the toll surpassed 8,000 residents and nonresidents as cases remained under 8,000 for the sixth day in a row, 7,686, the Florida Department of Health announced Friday.
Total daily tests dropped under 100,000 to 87,725 and the positive rate of daily tests increased to 13.82 percent from 11.67 the day before, which was the lowest in two weeks. The positivity rate for first-time cases rose to 10.12 percent, one day after 8.35 percent, which was the lowest since 7.7 percent on June 21.
Palm Beach County's fatalities increased to 919, the second in the state behind Miami-Dade. The increase was the highest in the state and previous high was 21, set Wednesday and last week.
On the Treasure Coast, St. Lucie climbed by a record 12, after 11 Wednesday, to 148. Martin rose by 4 to 91 and Indian River went up 1 to 52. Okeechobee also increased by 2 to 9 after its first 2 deaths were reported on July 25. Miami-Dade climbed by 25 and Broward's number didn't change.
On Friday, Florida represented 12.2 percent of the cases and 14.0 percent of the deaths in the United States.
Florida, Texas and California comprised about half of the increased deaths Friday.
Florida moved into sixth place in the United States past Illinois with 7,927 deaths of residents and 8,151 including nonresidents, which remained at 124. Texas is in fifth place with 8,093 residents' deaths, including the addition of a U.S.-high 293, compared with a record 322 last week. California reported 142 new deaths, after a state-record 202 Wednesday, and is in third place overall with 10,011.
New hospitalizations rose by 601 compared with 558 the day before.
Cases
Since the first two cases were announced on March 1, Florida's total has surged to 2.4 percent of the state's 21.48 million population with 518,075, second in the nation. In one week, cases have risen by 47,689 at 10.1 percent.
California is in first place overall with 538,416 cases, including the addition of 8,436, which was a highest in the nation Friday. Texas was third with 8,093 cases, which is 307 ahead of Florida and is third overall with 474,524. New York, which was the leader during much of the pandemic, is in fourth at 419,642 with 714 more.
Because of the impending arrival of Tropical Storm Isaias, most state testing sites were closed Friday through Monday with Sunday always closed.
Thursday's case increase was 7,650 after Wednesday's 5,409, Tuesday's 5,446, Monday's 4,752 and Sunday's 7,104 , which was the lowest since 6,336 on July 6 after the Independence Day weekend. Last Saturday's rise was 9,642.
The previous lowest since 3,286 on June 23.
The last time there were cases more than 10,000 was Saturday, July 26 rise of 12,299.
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. The second highest is 13,965 on July 16.
In Palm Beach County, new cases were 377 compared with 454 the day before. The record was 1,171 July 5 for a total of 36,114, including residents and nonresidents.
Miami-Dade's cases increased 1,809 compared with 1,728 the day before, and Broward at 688 vs. 704. In the Treasure Coast area, the rise over one day was 111 in St. Lucie, 55 in Martin, 26in Indian River and 24 in Okeechobee.
Deaths
Florida reported 120 deaths Thursday.
Five times deaths surpassed 200. The state death record of 257 was set last Friday after 225 Wednesday, 245 Tuesday, 252 one week ago Thursday, 216 one week ago Wednesday.
Deaths were lower from weekend data. On Monday, they rose a U.S. high-73 and 62 on Sunday. There were back-to-back days of 77 the previous Sunday and Monday. The previous lowest death increase was 35 on July 13.
Since the first two deaths were announced on March 6, the toll has climbed to nearly 8,000. On June 16, Florida was in 11th place.
Florida's deaths have hit triple digits all within the past few weeks.
State and county increases represent fatalities 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 most deaths occurred on July 16 with 154.
In the state report Friday, 181 new deaths were listed but 1 was removed from the previous day's report because it was determined not to be coronavirus related for a total increase of 180.
The state dashboard wasn't updated until Friday night because of an "issue that stems from the vendor that the department has partnered with to create and maintain the dashboard," a health department official told WPTV.
Pinellas is in fourth place with 481 deaths, a rise of 12, and Hillsborough climbed by 8 to 386. Lee has 329, with an increase of 6.
In South Florida, there were 71 of the 180 deaths reported for a total of 3,823 at 48.2 percent though the population only comprises 30 percent.
Deaths rose by 1,084 in the state over seven days for 15.8 percent and in Palm Beach County it was 104 for 12.8 percent. Two months ago the one-week figure was in the mid 200s. The U.S. figure is 4.7 percent with the world at 5.9 percent.
Miami-Dade climbed to 1,809, which is 198 more in one week. Broward remained at 782 with a rise of 73 in one week.
Palm Beach County's death count is higher than 21 states, including Iowa at 915 with 4 more. Nevada is at 920, which is 1 ahead of Florida after gaining 10.
The state on Friday identified 27 fatalities in Palm Beach County with 15 men (40, 54, 63, 65, 72, 72, 73, 79, 80, 82, 86, 91, 95, 95, 97) and 12 women (63, 66, 75, 82, 82, 82, 85, 88, 90, 92, 95, 100). St. Lucie's were 6 men (62, 68, 78, 79, 80, 100) and 6 women (72, 83, 87, 94, 95, 96). Martin reported 2 men (88, 92) and 2 women (94, 100). Indian River's death was a 70-year-old woman. Okeechobee added two men (60,63).
Testing
The total now is 3,903,010, fourth in the nation, behind No. 1 New York, No. 2 California and No. 3 Texas. That Florida figure is 18.2 percent of Florida's population, though some people tested more than once.
The overall positive rate was a record 13.27 percent Friday compared with 13.21 Thursday.
Several weeks ago the daily rate was around 2-3 percent but has risen to 13.82. The record is 20.71 percent on July 8 when there were 51,686 tests.
The record test total was 142,964 July 11.
In Palm Beach County, the daily first-time new cases positive rate was a two-week low of 7.4 percent after 7.8 percent the day before. The high was 11.0 percent over two weeks on July 27.
Miami-Dade's figure increased to 14.6 percent from 12.8 the day before and a low of 12.6 four days earlier. Miami-Dade's highest was 26.4 on July 8. In Broward, the percentage was 9.9 percent and 8.4 the day before and a two-week low of 8.3 four days earlier.
Elsewhere, St. Lucie was 12.7 percent after 9.0 the day before and a two-week low of 6.9 four days earlier. Martin posted 12.7 compared with 6.6 the day before and a 14-day low of 3.9 five days earlier. Indian River's latest figure was 4.9 percent after 7.1 the day before and a two-week low of 4.6 on July 25. Okeechobee's rate was 30.2 percent with only 86 tests report, surpassing the high of 22.6 percent on July 29.
With more testing and no requirements for someone to take a test, the median age is at 40, but 42 for tests reported Thursday.
Palm Beach County has 36,114 cases out of 274,111 total tested for 13.2 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 129,409 positive cases out of 668,822 tested for 19.3 percent, and Broward is second with 60,746 cases and 424,921 tested for 14.3 percentage.
In Martin County, it's 3,767 of 25,311 for 14.9 percent. In St. Lucie, it's 5,625 out of 42,116 for 13.4 percent, Indian River with 2,450 of 26,503 for 9.2 percent and Okeechobee 1,013 of 6,466 for 15.7 percent.
Mortality rate
The mortality rate compares positive cases against deaths.
It is 1.5 percent in the state for all deaths and cases, including nonresidents, compared with 3.2 percent in the United States and 3.7 percent worldwide, which passed 723,000 deaths and passed 19.5 million cases Friday.
Palm Beach County's rate was 2.6 percent, compared with Broward at 1.3 percent and Miami-Dade with 1.4 percent. With much fewer deaths, the mortality rate is 2.9 percent in St. Lucie, 2.4 percent in Martin, 2.1 percent in Indian River and 0.9 percent in Okeechobee.
Florida has 369 deaths per 1 million people compared with the U.S. average of 495 per million. New York, which represents 20.0 percent of the deaths in the nation, has 1,687 per million. Worldwide, the figure is 92.8 per million.
Age breakdown
The youngest deaths are a 9-year-old girl from Putnam 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 20 deaths in the 15-24 class with no increase. Monday's increase were a 16-year-old girl from Miami and 17-year-old boy from Manatee. Broward includes a 20-year-old man as a 16-year-old girl from Lee, a 17-year-old boy from Pasco and a 22-year-old woman from Palm Beach County.
Fifty-four people from 25 to 34 also have died from the virus, which was an increase of 1.
A total of 2,628 people 85 and older have died in the state from the virus, an increase of 60 in one day.
Ninety-two percent of the fatalities are 55 and older and 62. 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 8,618 cases of infants to 4 years old, an increase of 106, and 183 were hospitalized, which was an increase of 6. From ages 5-14, there are 20,079, an increase of 310 with 146 in the hospital at one time, which is an increase of 6.
From the infant to 54 age group, 372,120 of the 512,421 residents have tested positive. But in that group, 587 have died, an increase of 11, for a 0.16 death percentage.
From infant to 64, there are 438,388 cases. A total of 1,407 have died, an increase of 30 for a 0.32 percentage.
Cities
West Palm Beach is in first place among Palm Beach County cities with 9,024, an increase of 77. Lake Worth, which includes the city and county portion, rose 73 to 6,400 followed by Boca Raton at 4,877 up from 4,807, Boynton Beach at 3,186 from 3,153 and Delray Beach at 2,443 vs. 2,423. A total of 781 in the county not designated by a city.
Port St. Lucie leads the Treasure Coast with 3,327, an increase of 67, followed by Fort Pierce at 2,039, up 79, and Stuart with 1,817 vs. 1,810.
In Indian River County, Fellsmere, which has a population of 5,754, remained at 367 compared with only 3 on May 31.
Hospitalizations
A total of 29,131 people in the state have been hospitalized through Thursday, a rise from 26,533 seven days ago. That means it is a running total and includes people who have been released or died.
The number is 2,784 in Palm Beach County, an increase of 37 compared with 33 the day before; 336 in Martin, which was no change; 359 in St. Lucie with an increase of 13, Indian River increased by 3 to 187 and Okeechobee went up by 3 to 96.
Long-term care
Forty-three percent of the deaths, 3,378 are residents and staff of long-term care, including 372 in Palm Beach County, which is second most in the state behind 625 in Miami-Dade. The state increase was 77 and in Palm Beach County it was 10 more.
National
Since the first death was reported five months ago on Feb. 29, the toll has risen to 164,094, an increase of a world-high 1,290 Friday, according to Worldometers.info.
Johns Hopkins reports 161,248, a gain of 1,258.
Cases reached 5,095,064, with an increase of 63,246, according to Worldometers.info. They have exceeded 70,000 seven times, including a record 78,407 one week ago Friday.
Last Friday in the U.S., there were 1,458 more deaths and 71,113 more cases.
The one week U.S. death increase was 7,323 at 4.7 percent.
New York has the most deaths in the nation with 32,822, including 5 more Friday, among the lowest since the outbreak, after a high of 799 in April.
Among other states in the top 10 for deaths: No. 2 New Jersey with 3, No. 4 Massachusetts 18, No. 7 Illinois 31, No. 8 Pennsylvania 19, No. 9 Michigan 18, No. 10 Connecticut 4.
Also, No. 11 Louisiana added 61, No. `12 Georgia 91, No. 13 Arizona 79. No. 24 Washington, which was the original epicenter in the United States, reported 2 additional deaths.
Worldwide
The U.S. represented 20.0 percent of the 6,448 additional deaths Friday and 22.7 percent of the world total though its population is only 4.3 percent of the global total. The one week world death increase was 40,559 at 5.9 percent.
Last Friday's death increase was 6,468.
Cases increased by 283,009 behind a record 289,609 on July 24.
Brazil, which is second behind the United States for deaths, reported 1,058 after a record 1,554 on July 29 for a total of 99,702. Brazil added 49,502 cases for a total of 2,967,064 – more than half as many as No. 1 U.S.
Mexico reported 794 more deaths late Friday compared with a high of 1,092 on June 4 for a total of 51,311 in third place.
India added 940 deaths to rise to 42,578 and in fifth place. The Asian nation also reported a record 61,455 cases after a record 62,160 cases Thursday for a third-place total of 2,086,864, behind the U.S. and Brazil.
Four European nations are in the top 10. The United Kingdom's deaths increased from 49 to 98 for a total of 46,511. The daily high was 1,172. No. 6 Italy, which at one time was the world's epicenter and reached 919 in one day, reported 3 deaths, among the lowest since the pandemic. No. 7 France added 12 and No. 8 Spain 3.
No. 9 Peru reported 225 and No. 10 Iran had 156.
Russia is in fourth place in the world in cases with 877,135, including an additional 5,241. The nation gained 119 deaths for 11th place.
No. 17 Canada reported 4 deaths to rise at 8,970, as well as 424 cases.
Sweden, which has been doing "herd immunity," reported 5 new deaths for a total of 5,763 in 22nd and 41 cases. Neighboring Norway remained at 256 for the fourth day in a row, as well as 83 more cases.
No. 26 China, the original epicenter of the world, hasn’t reported a death since April 26 and added 31 cases Saturday after 127 one week ago, the most since early April.
Japan added 7 deaths for 1,033 as well as 1,552 cases four days after a record 998.