Florida's increased coronavirus deaths diminished to 89, the first time since mid July the toll was double digits from non-weekend data, as cases increased by 3,815, the sixth day in a row it was under 4,000, the Florida Department of Health announced Friday. In other encouraging news, the daily positivity rates declined.
The state's news death have been trending down the past four days: 183 Tuesday to 153 Wednesday to 135 Thursday. And weekly deaths are down 70 percent from one months ago. The last date of non-weekend data under 100 was 90 on July 19.
Cases increased 3,269 Thursday.
The daily rate for 75,370 tested decreased to 8.49 percent from 9.03 when there were 58,757 tests reported from labs to the state Thursday. The rate has been less than the target 10 percent for 16 days. The two-week low was 7.04 percent one week ago Friday.
The first-time cases positivity rate was 5.73 percent after 6.31 the day before and 5.70 the previous day. The two-week low was 4.94 percent one week ago. The rate has been under 10 percent for 16 days and under 8 percent since Aug. 16.
In Palm Beach County, the first-time positivity rate rose to 6.34 on 5,380 negative tests – the highest in two weeks – and the first time it was above 6 percent in 12 days. The previous day's percentage was 5.17. The two week low was 3.56 Saturday and has been less than 6 percent for 11 days in a row.
The county daily cases increased by 363 compared with 182 the day before.
Palm Beach County's death toll increased by 5 to 1,099, second highest in the state behind Miami-Dade and ahead of Broward, after 16 deaths were reported Thursday.
On the Treasure Coast, St. Lucie increased by 2 to 235, Indian River rose by 1 to 97 and Martin remained at 114. Okeechobee stayed at 15 after reporting its first two deaths on July 25.
Broward climbed by 6 and Miami-Dade rose by 26 deaths.
In South Florida, there were 40 of the 89 deaths – 44.5 percent – for a total of 5,107 at 46.6 percent though the population only comprises 30 percent.
Pinellas rose by 5 to 645 deaths in fourth place and Hillsborough went up by 1 to 541 in fifth place. Polk went up by 4 to 429 in sixth and Lee rose by 4 to 417
Florida is in fifth place in the United States with 10,957 deaths, and nonresident deaths decreased by 1 to 142 for a total of 11,099. On June 16, Florida was in 11th place in the nation.
Texas is in fourth place with the addition of a U.S.-high 196 deaths Friday after a state-record 324 on Aug. 11, for a total of 12,266. California reported 140 new deaths and is in third place overall with 12,690.
Florida's new hospitalizations rose by 311 compared with 464 the day before. The state reported Friday there are currently 3,993 hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, which is 405 less than the day before.
Deaths
The first two deaths were announced on March 6. It wasn't until April 24 the toll surpassed 1,000.
Tuesday's increase of 183 was the highest in one week. The increase one Friday ago was 136.
The last time deaths were more than 200 was 212 on Aug. 18. The state record was 276 on Aug. 11. The previous record was 257 on July 31. Others in the 200s were 204, 228, 212, 225, 245, 252, 216.
State and county increases represent fatalities received by the state Thursday 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: 180 on July 30.
In a state list of cases and deaths released Friday, it reported 91 deaths from the previous report but 2 were removed after further determining a cause of death for a net gain 89.
Deaths rose by `789 in the state over seven days (a daily average of 113) for 7.8 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 51 for 4.9 percent. The U.S. figure is 3.8 percent with the world at 4.8 percent.
Miami-Dade climbed to 2,372, which is 163 more in one week. Broward increased to 1,175 with a rise of 107 in one week. Last week Broward passed Palm Beach County into second place. Indian River has risen by 25 deaths in one week, a 34.7 increase compared with St. Lucie rising by 23 deaths, Martin by 2 and Okeechobee by 3.
Palm Beach County's death count is higher than 22 states, including Iowa's `1,095 after reporting 11 Friday.
The state on Thursday identified 6 deaths in Palm Beach County though the change was only 5, including 5 men (64, 67, 75, 75, 78) and a 92-year old woman. St. Lucie reported a 74-year-old woman and a 72-year-old man, and Indian River an 86-year-old woman.
Cases
Since the first two cases were announced on March 1, Florida's total has surged to 2.9 percent of the state's 21.48 million population with 615,806 second in the nation.
In one week, cases have risen by 22,520 at 3.8 percent, a percentage that has been steadily decreasing.
Three weeks ago, Florida became the second state to pass 500,000 cases.
California has the most cases in the U.S. at 688,858 with the addition of 5,329, the most in the U.S. on Friday. Texas had the second-most new cases, 3,972, which is 157 more than Florida, and is third overall with 601,768. New York, which was the leader during much of the pandemic, is in fourth at 432,767 with 636 more.
Florida's daily case increases have been below 10,000 since July 26 when they climbed by 12,199.
For 12 days, the state's cases have been below 5,000.
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 have been much lower since the record 1,171 July 5. The total now is 41,558, including residents and nonresidents.
Miami-Dade's cases were 661 compared with 622, and Broward's increase was 366 vs. 264. In the Treasure Coast area, the rise over one day was 70 in St. Lucie, 140 in Martin, 10 in Indian River and 8 in Okeechobee.
Testing
Florida's total now is 4,554,563, fourth in the nation, behind No. 1 New York, No. 2 California and No. 3 Texas. That Florida figure is 21.2 percent of Florida's population, though some people tested more than once.
The overall positive rate was 13.52 percent Friday compared with 13.53 the day before.
The daily rate at one time was around 2-3 percent but has risen to 8.49 in daily tests.. The two-week high was 16.43 on Aug. 11. 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 last time the first-time rate has been above 10.0 percent was 10.2 percent on Aug. 4.
Miami-Dade's rate has stayed below 8 percent for three days in a row: 7.65 after 7.76 and 7.64, and has remained under 9 percent for 10 days. The highest was 26.4 on July 8. In Broward, the rate dropped to 4.87 percent 5.91 the day before and a two-week low of 4.22 on Sunday.
Elsewhere, St. Lucie's rate spiked to 8.82 from 5.59 and a two-week low of 3.66 one Friday ago though it surged to 14.15 on Monday. Martin's rate climbed to 12.29 percent from 7.94 and a two-week low of 2.59 on Aug. 14. Indian River's rate was 3.17 percent after 5.22 the previous day and a two-week low of 1.67 on Sunday. Okeechobee's rate was 4.37 on 197 negative tests after 2.67 percent on 73 negative tests and 1 positive one, a two-week high of 11.96 Saturday on 81 negative tests and 0 percent on Sunday on 29 tests.
Palm Beach County has 41,558 cases out of 317,813 total tested for 13.08 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 155,418 positive cases out of 800,572 tested for 19.41 percent, and Broward is second with 70,147 cases and 491,687 tested for 14.27 percentage.
In Martin County, it's 4,362 of 29,946 for 14.57 percent. In St. Lucie, it's 6,896 out of 50,023 for 13.79 percent, Indian River with 2,811 of 30,279 for 9.28 percent and Okeechobee 1,219 of 9,749 for 12.5 percent.
Mortality rate
The mortality rate compares positive cases against deaths.
The state's rate is 1.8 percent for all deaths and cases, including nonresidents, compared with 3.1 percent in the United States and 3.4 percent worldwide, which neared 841,000 deaths and neared 24.9 million cases Friday.
Palm Beach County's rate was 2.7 percent, compared with Broward at 1.7 percent and Miami-Dade with 1.5 percent. With much fewer deaths, the mortality rate is 3.4 percent in St. Lucie, 2.6 percent in Martin, 3.5 percent in Indian River and 1.2 percent in Okeechobee.
Florida has 510 deaths per 1 million people compared with the U.S. average of 560 per million. New York, which represents 17.8 percent of the deaths in the nation, has 1,696 per million. Worldwide, the figure is 107.8 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, among 4 in the 5-14 age class.
Four other juveniles are among the 27 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.
There were no increases in the two youngest classes.
Seventy-two people from 25 to 34 also have died from the virus.
A total of 3,532 people 85 and older have died in the state from the virus, an increase of 28 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 10,377 cases of infants to 4 years old, an increase of 68, and 242 were hospitalized, which rose by 2.From ages 5-14, there are 25,098 24,903, an increase of 195 with 214in the hospital at one time, which went up by 4.
From the infant to 54 age group, 438,734 of the 609,074 residents tested in data. In that group, 767 have died, an increase of 4, for a 0.17 death percentage. From infant to 64, there are 518,469 cases. A total of 1,945 have died, an increase of 8, for a 0.38 percentage.
Cities
West Palm Beach is in first place among Palm Beach County cities with 10,379, an increase of 110. Lake Worth, which includes the city and county portion, rose 86 to 7,255llowed by Boca Raton at 5,649 up from 5,613, Boynton Beach at 3,707 from 3,685 and Delray Beach at 2,826 vs. 2,815. A total of 902 in the county not designated by a city.
Port St. Lucie leads the Treasure Coast with 4,056, an increase of 46 followed by Fort Pierce at 2,489, up 23, and Stuart with 2,060, which was an increase of 59.
In Indian River County, Fellsmere, which has a population of 5,754, increased by 1 case to 392 compared with only 3 on May 31.
Hospitalizations
A total of 38,029 people in the state have been hospitalized, a rise from 35,997 seven days ago. That means it is a running total and includes people who have been released or died.
The number is 3,298 in Palm Beach County, an increase of 68 compared with 37 the day before; 374 in Martin, which increased by 1; 463 in St. Lucie with a rise of 3, Indian River went up by 1 to 248 and Okeechobee remained at 130.
Long-term care
Forty-two percent of the deaths, 4,620 are residents and staff of long-term care, including 470 in Palm Beach County, which is second most in the state behind 694 in Miami-Dade. The state increase was 33 and in Palm Beach County it went up by 6.
National
Since the first death was reported five months ago on Feb. 29, the toll has risen to 185,901, an increase of a world-high 1,105 on Friday, according to Worldometers.info.
Johns Hopkins reports 181,762, a gain of 938.
Cases reached 6,096,235 with an increase of 49,601, according to Worldometers.info. They have exceeded 70,000 seven times, including a record 78,446 on July 24.
Last Friday in the U.S., there were 1,170 more deaths and 50,481 more cases.
The one week U.S. death increase was 6,741 at 3.8 percent.
New York has the most deaths in the nation at 33,005, with 11 reported Friday, after a high of 799 in April.
Among other states in the top 10 for deaths: No. 2 New Jersey 8, No. 6 Massachusetts 16, No. 7 Illinois 20, No. 8 Pennsylvania 19, No. 9 Michigan 6, No. 10 Georgia 78.
Also, No. 11 Arizona announced 49 new deaths and 519 additional cases. No. 23 Washington, the original epicenter in the United States, had 15.
Worldwide
The U.S. represented 18.9 percent of the 6,057 additional deaths Friday and 22.1 percent of the world total though its population is only 4.3 percent of the global total. The one week world death increase was 38,541 at 4.8 percent.
Last Friday's death increase was 6,073.
Cases increased by 284,384, behind a record 289,648 on July 24.
Brazil, which is second behind the United States for deaths, reported 868 deaths to rise to 119,594. Brazil's record is 1,554 on July 29. The nation added 48,112 cases for a total of 3,812,605 and only behind the U.S.
Mexico reported 552 more deaths late Friday compared with a high of 1,092 on June 4 for a total of 63,146 in third place.
India is just 453 behind Mexico with 62,713 total, adding 1,019. The Asian nation also reported 76,665 cases for a third-place total of 3,461,240, behind the U.S. and Brazil.
Four European nations are in the top 10. The United Kingdom reported an additional 9 deaths for 41,486 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 9 deaths. No. 7 France reported 10 deaths and 7,379 cases, the highest since 7,578 on March 31, and No. 8 Spain 15 deaths
No. 9 Peru gained 194 and No. 10 Iran had 112.
Russia is in fourth place in the world in cases with 980,405, including an additional 4,829. The nation gained 110 deaths and is in 12th.
No. 17 Canada reported 6 deaths to rise to 9,108, as well as 226 cases.
Sweden, which has been doing "herd immunity," reported 5 deaths and has 5,821 total. Neighboring Norway announced zero deaths for the eighth day in a row to remain at 264 deaths, as well as 23 more cases.
No. 28 China, the original epicenter of the world, hasn’t reported a death since April 26, and added 9 cases Saturday.
Japan reported 11 deaths for a total of 1,238, as well as 905 cases.