WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida's newly reported deaths increased by 152 – 7 more than the day before – as the total toll including nonresidents passed 13,000, and increased daily case dropped to 2,355 and the overall total dropped to third behind Texas, Florida Health Department announced Wednesday.
Since the first two deaths were announced on March 6, the death toll has climbed to 12,939 among residents, with an average of 67 per day, and 13,100 including 162 nonresidents, which increased by 2 to 161.
The state's daily positive rate for all tests increased to 5.78 percent on 57,161 tests received from labs Tuesday after 5.59 on 68,960 tests. The two-week low was 5.18 percent two days ago and the high was 8.53 percent on Sept. 2. The record test total was 142,964 July 11.
The state's first-time positivity rate increased from 4.2 percent to 4.47 percent after a two-week low of 3.86 two days ago with every day over 14 days under 5 percent. In Palm Beach County, the rate decreased to 4.04 percent from 4.12, a two-week low of 2.92 two days ago and a two-week high was 5.78 Sept. 8. The county's rate has been under 4 percent 8 times over 14 days.
Palm Beach County reported 18 new deaths for a total of 1,234, third highest in the state behind Miami-Dade and Broward, after 17 were reported Tuesday. On the Treasure Coast, St. Lucie increased by 3 to 259 as Martin rose by 2 to 131 and Indian River up by 1 to 108. Okeechobee rose by 1 to 22 with its first two deaths on July 25.
Broward increased by 9 and Miami-Dade by 32.
In South Florida, there were 66 of the 152 deaths, 43.4 percent for a total of 6,006 at 46.4 percent though the population only comprises 30 percent.
Before Tuesday's rise of 145 deaths, the state's increase was less than three digits for three days in a row: 98 on Saturday, 8 on Sunday to become the lowest since 7 on June 15 and 34 Monday.
On Tuesday, one day after Labor Day, the death increase was 44 after trending lower for four days.
The last time deaths hit 200 was one week ago Wednesday. The previous 200-plus day was Aug. 18. The state record was 276 on Aug. 11.
Cases in Florida also have been trending down the past three months.
Tuesday's increase was 3,116 after 1,736 on Monday, which was the lowest since 1,371 on June 10. Then, on June 15 they hit 1,758.
Since then cases have increased less than 2,000 four times – 1,885 on Aug. 31, 1,838 Monday, Sept.7 and 1,823 Tuesday, Sept. 8.
The last time cases were above 4,000 was 4,684 on Aug. 22.
Palm Beach County's daily cases increased by 254 after 166 the day before and 100 last week.
Florida's new hospitalizations rose by 197 compared with 280 the day before. The state reported Wednesday there are currently 2,480 hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, which is 96 less than the day before.
Deaths
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 135 deaths Wednesday after a state-record 324 on Aug. 11, for a total of 14,478. California reported a U.S.-high 164 new deaths and is in third place overall with 14,615, just 137 ahead of Texas.
It took 49 days for Florida's death toll of residents to reach the first 1,000 yet it was only 40 days to more than double.
Less than two months ago, July 20, there were 5,075 deaths.
State and county increases represent fatalities received by the state Tuesday 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: 102 on Aug. 19.
In a state report Wednesday, 153 deaths were added from the last day's report but 1 was removed after determining they weren't related to COVID-19.
Deaths rose by 824 in the state over seven days (a daily average of 118) for 6.8 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 56 for 4.8 percent. The U.S. figure is 3.0 percent with the world at 4.0 percent.
Miami-Dade rose to 2,955, which is 215 more in one week. Broward increased to 1,297 with a rise of 53 in one week. St. Lucie has risen by 7 deaths in one week compared with Martin by 8, Indian River by 4 and Okeechobee by 2.
Palm Beach County's death count is higher than 23 states, including Wisconsin's 1,228 with an additional 8 deaths. Iowa has 1 more death than Palm Beach County after reporting 1 more fatality.
Pinellas rose by 4 to 714 deaths in fourth place and Hillsborough increased by 5 to to 596 in fifth place. Polk went up by 3 to 497 in sixth and Lee rose by 2 to 453.
The state identified 19 deaths in Palm Beach County though the increase was 18 in a day with 9 men (45, 72, 76, 82, 89, 85, 90, 95, 97) and 10 women (71, 76, 80, 82, 85, 85, 87, 91, 97, 102). St. Lucie's deaths were 2 women (68, 90) and a 73-year-old man with Martin's fatalities 2 women (83,96), Indian River's death a 70-year-old woman and Okeechobee a 62-year-old man.
Cases
Since the first two cases were announced on March 1, Florida's total has surged to 3.1 percent of the state's 21.48 million population with 671,201, second in the nation. The average over six months is 3,372 per day.
In one week, cases have risen by 19,053, which average 2,721 per day, at 2.9 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 762,963 with the addition of 2,950. Texas had a U.S. high 3,409 as well as an adjusted increase from Tuesday and moved into second with 674,772 ahead of Florida. New York, which was the leader during much of the pandemic, is in fourth at 446,366 with 652 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 44,459, including residents and nonresidents.
Miami-Dade's cases were 459 compared with 389 and Broward's increase was 143 vs. 164. In the Treasure Coast area, the rise over one day was 6 in Martin, 28 in St. Lucie, 11 in Indian River, 16 in Okeechobee.
Testing
Florida's total number of people tested is 4,991,093, fourth in the nation, behind No. 1 New York, No. 2 California and No. 3 Texas. That Florida figure is 23.2 percent of Florida's population.
The overall positive rate increased to 13.45 percent from 13.44 the day before.
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 has been less than 5 percent for six days in a row, most recently 4.52 after 4.91, with the two-week low 4.11 two days ago andthe two-week high 7.28 on Sept. 2. The rate hit 26.4 on July 8. Broward's rate dropped to 2.97 percent from 3.95 percent, and after three days in a row under 3 percent -- 2.38, 2.77, 2.50 -- with a high of 4.35 on Sept. 2.
Elsewhere, St. Lucie's rate dramatically decreased from a two-week high of 7.12 percent to 4.63 with two-week low of 2.39 three days ago with a high of 6.72 Sept. 8. Martin's rate was a two-week low of 1.59 after 7.31 percent and a high of 9.68 Sept. 8. Indian River's rate was 3.0 percent after a two-week high of 4.59 percent, a two-week low of 1.65 on Sept. 5, which was among 5 days near 2 percent and below. Okeechobee's rate was 12.0 percent on 44 tests after 4.17 percent on 46 tests, a two-week high of 13.16 on 99 tests two days ago, a low of 1.92 on 153 negative tests on Sept. 3.
Palm Beach County has 44,459 cases out of 348,018 total tested for 12.77 percent overall, not including those awaiting tests and inconclusive.
Miami-Dade leads with 165,147 positive cases out of 869,976 tested for 18.98 percent, and Broward is second with 74,832 cases and 540,090 tested for 13.86 percentage.
In Martin County, it's 4,613 of 33,241 for 13.88 percent. In St. Lucie, it's 7,661 out of 57,214 for 13.39 percent, Indian River with 3,011 of 33,506 for 8.99 percent and Okeechobee 1,357 of 10,438 for 13.0 percent.
Mortality rate
The mortality rate compares positive cases against deaths.
The state's rate increased to 2.0 percent from 1.9 the day before for all deaths and cases, including nonresidents, compared with 3.0 percent in the United States and 3.2 percent worldwide, which neared 945,000 deaths and passed 30.0 million cases Wednesday, according to Worldometers.info.
Palm Beach County's rate was 2.8 percent, compared with Broward at 1.7 percent and Miami-Dade with 1.8 percent. With much fewer deaths, the mortality rate is 3.4 percent in St. Lucie, 2.9 percent in Martin, 3.6 percent in Indian River and 1.6 percent in Okeechobee.
Florida has 602 deaths per 1 million people compared with the U.S. average of 607 per million. New York, which represents 16.9 percent of the deaths in the nation, has 1,704 per million. Worldwide, the figure is 121.1 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 31 deaths in the 15-24 class, including 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 didn't have any additions.
Eighty-six people from 25 to 34 also have died from the virus, which increased by 2.
A total of 4,198 people 85 and older have died in the state from the virus, an increase of 50 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 11,341 cases of infants to 4 years old, an increase of 29, and 263 were hospitalized, with a decrease of 2. From ages 5-14, there are 27,872, an increase of 83 with 240 in the hospital at one time, with 3 more.
From the infant to 54 age group, 477,407 of the 663,234 residents' cases. In that group, 873 have died, with an increase of 10, for a 0.18 death percentage. From infant to 64, there are 563,792 cases. A total of 2,274 have died, an increase of 25, for a 0.40 percentage.
Cities
West Palm Beach is in first place among Palm Beach County cities with 10,972, with an increase of 31. Lake Worth, which includes the city and county portion, rose by 17 to 7,640, followed by Boca Raton at 6,295, up from 6,255, Boynton Beach at 3,932 from 3,927 and Delray Beach at 3,035 vs. 3,026. A total of 1,006 in the county not designated by a city.
Port St. Lucie leads the Treasure Coast with 4,504, an increase of 19, followed by Fort Pierce at 2,719, up 7, and Stuart with 2,154, which was an increase of 3.
In Indian River County, Fellsmere, which has a population of 5,754, remained at 399 compared with only 3 on May 31.
Hospitalizations
A total of 41,851 people in the state have been hospitalized, a rise from 40,517seven days ago. That means it is a running total and includes people who have been released or died.
The number is 3,512 in Palm Beach County, with an increase of 7 compared with 13 the day before; 384 in Martin, which didn't change; 626 in St. Lucie with an increase of 5, Indian River stayed at 281 and Okeechobee rose from 158 to 160.
Long-term care
Forty-one percent of the deaths, 5,320 are residents and staff of long-term care, including 532 in Palm Beach County, which is second most in the state behind 765 in Miami-Dade. The state increase was 54 and in Palm Beach County it went up by 7.
National
Since the first death was reported six months ago on Feb. 29, the toll has risen to 196,732, a gain of 946, according to Johns Hopkins. Worldometers reported a gain of 1,151 to 201,348.
Cases reached 6,629,357 with an increase of 36,088. They have exceeded 70,000 seven times, including a record 78,446 on July 24 and the last time was July 31.
Last Tuesday in the U.S., there were 445 more deaths and 26,387 cases.
The one week U.S. death increase was 5,673 at 3.0 percent.
New York has the most deaths in the nation at 33,042 with 4 reported Wednesday, after a high of 799 in April.
Among other states in the top 10 for deaths: No. 2 New Jersey 9, No. 6 Massachusetts 20, No. 7 Illinois 35, No. 8 Pennsylvania 14, No. 9 Michigan 11, No. 10 Georgia 21.
Arkansas reported a record 147 new deaths, including 139 newly determined probable fatalities from coronavirus, to rise to 1,157 in 30th.
Also, No. 11 Arizona reported 27 deaths, as well as an additional 698 cases. No. 23 Washington, the original epicenter in the United States, reported 5 deaths.
Worldwide
The U.S. represented 18.5 percent of the 6,220 additional deaths Wednesday and 21.3 percent of the world total though its population is only 4.3 percent of the global total. The one week world death increase was 36,392 at 4.0 percent.
Last Wednesday's death increase was 6,228.
Cases increased by 307,465 after a record 310,692 Friday, according to Worldometers.info.
Brazil, which is second behind the United States for deaths, reported 967 deaths to rise to 134,174. Brazil's record is 1,554 on July 29. The nation added 37,387 cases at 4,421,686 in third place.
India reported 90,123 cases, behind a record 97,570 last week, to rise to 5,020,359 which is second in world behind U.S. India also recorded a world-high and national-record 1,299 deaths to rise to 82,066 and in third place.
Mexico announced 300 more deaths late Wednesday compared with a high of 1,092 on June 4 for a total of 71,978 in fourth place.
Four European nations are in the top 10. The United Kingdom reported 20 additional deaths for 41,684 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 12 deaths. France announced 46 deaths, as well as 9,784 cases, compared with the record 10,561 four days ago to fall to eighth behind Peru. No. 9 Spain 239 deaths, the most since 244 on May 6, as well as a record 11,193 case.
No. 7 Peru gained 124 deaths and No. 10 Iran had 179.
Russia is in fourth place in the world in cases with 1,079,519 including an additional 5,670. The nation gained 132 deaths and is in 12th.
No. 19 Canada reported 5 deaths for a total of 9,193 and 944 cases.
Sweden, which has been doing "herd immunity," reported 5 deaths and 5,860 total. Neighboring Norway reported no deaths for the fifth day in a row to remain at 265, as well as 105 more cases.
No. 28 China, the original epicenter of the world, hasn’t reported a death since April 26, and added `9 cases Thursday.