WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida's newly reported coronavirus deaths increased by a U.S.-high 211, the second day in a row they were 200 or more, as cases rose by 2,583, a rise of 435 the day before, the Florida Health Department announced Thursday.
Meanwhile, the first-time positivity rates dropped in the state and Palm Beach County. In Florida, it went to 5.54 from 5.91 after three days under 5 with the two-week high 6.19 on Friday. In Palm Beach County, the rate declined dramatically to 3.75 after 5.85 percent the day before, which was the highest in two weeks, and 4.87 the day before that. Previously, there were four days in a row under 4: 3.68, then 3.22, 3.55, two-week low of 3.09.
The daily rate for all tests decreased to 7.19 on 51,304 tests reported by the labs to the state Wednesday compared with 8.14 on 44,058 tests. The two-week high was 10.32 percent with a data dump by Quest Diagnostics last week and a low of 6.35 on Sunday.
On Wednesday, the state announced 200 deaths, the first time since Aug. 18 they were at least 200. The last time there were back-to-back increases of 200 or more was 228 on Aug. 15, then 204 on Aug. 15. The state record was 276 on Aug. 11.
On Tuesday, one day after Labor Day, the death increase was 44 after trending lower for four days: 22 Monday, 38 Sunday, 61 Saturday, 100 Friday and 149 Thursday. Last Thursday's increase was 149.
Since the first two deaths were announced on March 6, the death toll has climbed to 12,326 and 12,425 including 156 nonresidents, which rose by 2.
Florida is in fifth place in the United States. On June 16, Florida was in 11th place in the nation.
Texas is in fourth place with the addition of 161 deaths Thursday after a state-record 324 on Aug. 11, for a total of 13,853. California reported 137 new deaths and is in third place overall with 13,978.
Wednesday's cases in Florida increased by 2,056. For two days in a row the state's infections were under 1,900 –1,823 Tuesday and 1,838 Monday. Cases have been under 2,000 only one other time in three months – 1,885 last Monday. On June 15, cases increased 1,758.
Palm Beach County's death total rose by 9 to 1,178, third highest in the state behind Miami-Dade and Broward, after 8 deaths were reported Wednesday.
On the Treasure Coast, St. Lucie County rose by 3 to 255, Martin increased by 2 to 125 and Indian River remained at 104. Okeechobee stayed at 20 with its first two deaths on July 25.
Broward increased by 14 and Miami-Dade rose by 49.
In South Florida, there were 77 of the 211 deaths, 36.5 percent, for a total of 5,738 at 46.6 percent though the population only comprises 30 percent.
Pinellas rose by 4 to 697 deaths in fourth place and Hillsborough went up by 11 to 578 in fifth place. Polk increased by 3 to 483 in sixth and Lee rose by 2 to 444.
Palm Beach County's daily cases increased by 110 after 113 the day before and 100 last week.
Florida's new hospitalizations rose by 290 compared with 322 the day before. The state reported Thursday there are currently 2,902 hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, which is 174 less than the day before.
Deaths
It took 49 days for the death toll to reach the first 1,000 yet it was only 40 days to more than double.
Less than two months ago there, July 20, there were 5,075 deaths. It took 8 days to pass 6,000, 4 to pass 7,000, 7 to pass 8,000, 6 to pass 9,000, 5 to pass 10,000, 10 to pass 11,000.
State and county increases represent fatalities received by the state Wednesday and not the number of deaths that occurred then. The day someone dies and when it is received by the state can lag for several days. The most deaths the past month: 147 each on Aug. 11 and 12.
In a state list of cases and deaths released Thursday, it reported no deaths removed after further determining a cause of death.
Deaths rose by 676 in the state over seven days (a daily average of 97) for 5.8 percent, a figure tally that had been more than 1,200 deaths recently. Two months ago the one-week figure was in the mid 200s. Palm Beach County rose by 37 for 3.2 percent. The U.S. figure is 2.7 percent with the world at 4.5 percent.
Miami-Dade climbed to 2,789, which is 189 more in one week. Broward increased to 1,258 with a rise of 52 in one week. St. Lucie has risen by 12 deaths in one week compared with Martin by 6, Indian River by 1 and Okeechobee by 1.
Palm Beach County's death count is higher than 21 states, including Rhode Island's 1,065 after adding 5. Ahead of Florida is Iowa with 1,207, adding 9, and Wisconsin at 1,193, adding 10.
The state on Thursday identified 8 deaths in Palm Beach County though the increase was 9: 5 men (60, 67, 77, 83, 86) and 3 women (64, 75, 93). St, Lucie reported 2 men (76, 81) and a 70-year-old woman. Martin's new deaths were 2 women (78, 97).
Cases
Since the first two cases were announced on March 1, Florida's total has surged to 3.0 percent of the state's 21.48 million population with 654,731, second in the nation. The average over six months is 3,392 per day.
In one week, cases have risen by 17,718, which average 2,531 per day, at 2.8 percent, a percentage that has been steadily decreasing.
Cases passed 600,000 Aug. 23 and 500,000 on Aug. 5.
California has the most cases in the U.S. at 742,865 with the addition of 3,338. Texas had a U.S.-high 3,852, and is third overall with 649,809. New York, which was the leader during much of the pandemic, is in fourth at 441,911 with 757 more.
Florida's daily case increases have been below 10,000 since July 26 when they climbed by 12,199. Early in the pandemic, cases 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.
In Palm Beach County, new cases have been much lower since the record 1,171 July 5. The total now is 43,532, including residents and nonresidents.
Miami-Dade's cases were 461 compared with 407 and Broward's increase was 273 vs. 140. In the Treasure Coast area, the rise over one day was 42 in Martin, 26 in St. Lucie, 12 in Indian River, 6 in Okeechobee.
Testing
Florida's total number of people tested is 4,857,274, fourth in the nation, behind No. 1 New York, No. 2 California and No. 3 Texas. That Florida figure is 22.6 percent of Florida's population.
The overall positive rate remained at 13.48.
The daily rate at one time was around 2-3 percent. The two-week high was 11.35 on Aug. 24 and the record is 20.71 percent on July 8.
The record test total was 142,964 July 11.
In Palm Beach County, the last time the first-time rate has been above 10.0 percent was 10.2 percent on Aug. 4.
Miami-Dade's rate was 5.63 percent after 6.26, a two-week low of 5.0 three days ago and a two-week high of 7.86, which doesn't include the Quest Diagnostics data dump, on Aug. 31. The rate hit 26.4 on July 8. Broward's rate was 3.73 after 4.02 percent and two weeks in a row under 5 percent, including a low of 3.09 four days ago.
Elsewhere, St. Lucie's rate was 4.64 percent after a two-week high of 6.95 and a two-week low of 3.1 on Aug. 30. Martin's rate spiked to a two-week high of 10.54 percent after 9.55 and two days under 3 percent. Indian River's rate was 3.23 percent after a two-week high of 4.17 percent, 6 days near 2 percent and below over two weeks and a high of 5.0 on Aug. 26. Okeechobee's rate was 9.46 on 67 negative tests after 6.45 on 29 negative tests, a low of 1.91 on 154 negative tests on Sept. 3, a high of 11.11 on Aug. 31 on 40 negative tests, including the Quest data dump.
Palm Beach County has 43,532 cases out of 338,599 total tested for 12.86 percent overall, not including those awaiting tests and inconclusive.
Miami-Dade leads with 162,894 positive cases out of 850,676 tested for 19.15 percent, and Broward is second with 73,869 cases and 528,190 tested for 13.99 percentage.
In Martin County, it's 4,526 of 31,866 for 14.2 percent. In St. Lucie, it's 7,404 out of 54,876 for 13.49 percent, Indian River with 2,942 of 32,446 for 9.07 percent and Okeechobee 1,295 of 10,221 for 12.67 percent.
Mortality rate
The mortality rate compares positive cases against deaths.
The state's rate is 1.9 percent for all deaths and cases, including nonresidents, compared with 3.0 percent in the United States and 3.2 percent worldwide, which passed 908,000 deaths and passed 28.0 million cases Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins.
Palm Beach County's rate was 2.7 percent, compared with Broward at 1.7 percent and Miami-Dade with 1.7 percent. With much fewer deaths, the mortality rate is 3.5 percent in St. Lucie, 2.8 percent in Martin, 3.6 percent in Indian River and 1.5 percent in Okeechobee.
Florida has 574 deaths per 1 million people compared with the U.S. average of 592 per million. New York, which represents 17.2 percent of the deaths in the nation, has 1,702 per million. Worldwide, the figure is 117.1 per million.
Age breakdown
The median age for all deaths in Florida is 79.
Four deaths are among youths 14 and under: a 6-year-old from Hillsborough, a 9-year-year old from Putnam and two 11-year-olds, a boy in Miami-Dade and a girl in Broward. This class did not change.
Four other juveniles are among the 29 deaths in the 15-24 class: a 16-year-old girl in Miami-Dade, a 16-year-old girl in Lee, a 17-year-old boy in Pasco and a 17-year-old boy in Manatee. This class did not change.
Eighty-two people from 25 to 34 also have died from the virus with no change.
A total of 3,9,59 people 85 and older have died in the state from the virus, an increase of 53 in one day.
Ninety-three percent of the fatalities are 55 and older and 61 percent are 75 and older. A smaller percentage of older people have tested positive – 28 percent age 55 and older and 7 percent 75 and older.
At the other end of the age spectrum, there are 11,084 cases of infants to 4 years old, an increase of 59, and 256 were hospitalized, which went up by 2. From ages 5-14, there are 27,076, an increase of 166 with 232 in the hospital at one time, an increase of 2.
From the infant to 54 age group, 465,914 of the 647,318 residents' cases. In that group, 838 have died, with an increase of 9, for a 0.18 death percentage. From infant to 64, there are 550,487 cases. A total of 2,179 have died, an increase of 38, for a 0.40 percentage.
Cities
West Palm Beach is in first place among Palm Beach County cities with 10,830, with an increase of 21. Lake Worth, which includes the city and county portion, rose 15 to 7,549 followed by Boca Raton at 6,095, up from 6,066, Boynton Beach at 3,851 from 3,845 and Delray Beach at 2,985 vs. 2,980. A total of 979 in the county not designated by a city.
Port St. Lucie leads the Treasure Coast with 4,338 an increase of 17 followed by Fort Pierce at 2,649, up 6, and Stuart with 2,116, which was an increase of 23.
In Indian River County, Fellsmere, which has a population of 5,754, remained at 397 compared with only 3 on May 31.
Hospitalizations
A total of 40,807 people in the state have been hospitalized, a rise from 39,428 seven days ago. That means it is a running total and includes people who have been released or died.
The number is 3,463 in Palm Beach County, a rise of 17 compared with 17 the day before; 382 in Martin, which didn't change; 60`1 in St. Lucie with an increases of 28, Indian River went up by 2 to 275 and Okeechobee remained at 145.
Long-term care
Forty-two percent of the deaths, 5,104, are residents and staff of long-term care, including 512 in Palm Beach County, which is second most in the state behind 747 in Miami-Dade. The state increase was 69 and in Palm Beach County it went up by 5.
National
Since the first death was reported six months ago on Feb. 29, the toll has risen to 191,753, a gain of 894, according to Johns Hopkins.
Cases reached 6,395,904 with an increase of 34,639. They have exceeded 70,000 seven times, including a record 78,446 on July 24 and the last time was July 31.
Last Thursday in the U.S., there were 1,070 more deaths and 36,506 cases.
The one week U.S. death increase was 4,963 at 2.7 percent.
New York has the most deaths in the nation at 33,026 with 7 reported Thursday, after a high of 799 in April.
Among other states in the top 10 for deaths: No. 2 New Jersey 5, No. 6 Massachusetts 20, No. 7 Illinois 28, No. 8 Pennsylvania 10, No. 9 Michigan 17, No. 10 Georgia 76.
Also, No. 11 Arizona reported 22 deaths, as well as an additional 22 cases. No. 23 Washington, the original epicenter in the United States, reported 7 deaths.
Worldwide
The U.S. represented 20.6 percent of the 4,331 additional deaths Thursday and 21.1 percent of the world total though its population is only 4.3 percent of the global total. The one week world death increase was 39,234 at 4.5 percent.
Last Thursday's death increase was 5,705.
Cases increased by 287,951 after a record 313,115 on Friday, according to Johns Hopkins.
Brazil, which is second behind the United States for deaths, reported 922 deaths to rise to 129,575. Brazil's record is 1,554 on July 29. The nation added 40,431 cases at 4,239,763 in third place.
India reported the world's most cases in one day, 95,735, to rise to 4,465,863, which is second in world behind U.S.
India also record a world high and national record 1,172 additional deaths to rise to 75,062 and in third place.
Mexico announced 554 more deaths late Thursday compared with a high of 1,092 on June 4 for a total of 69,649 in fourth place.
Four European nations are in the top 10. The United Kingdom reported 14 additional deaths for 41,608 in fifth place with the record daily high 1,172. No. 6 Italy, which at one time was the world's epicenter and reached 919 in one day, reported 10 deaths. Cases are spiking in No. 7 France with a national record 9,843 infections and No. 9 Spain with 10,764 cases, behind the record 10,858 on March 20. France also reported 19 deaths and Spain 71.
No. 8 Peru gained 108 deaths and No. 10 Iran had 129 Thursday.
Russia is in fourth place in the world in cases with 1,046,370, , including an additional 4,363. The nation gained 128 deaths and is in 12th.
No. 19 Canada reported 8 deaths to rise to 9,163 and 630 cases.
Sweden, which has been doing "herd immunity," reported 4 deaths and has 5,843 total. Neighboring Norway last reported the first death since Aug. 20 to rise to 265, as well as 121 more cases.
No. 28 China, the original epicenter of the world, hasn’t reported a death since April 26, and added `15 cases Friday.
Japan reported 13 deaths for a total of 1,406 Thursday.