WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida's new coronavirus cases dropped below 2,000 for the first time in 2 1/2 months, 1,885, including 100 in Palm Beach County, as deaths rose by double digits for the second day in a row, a U.S.-high 68, the Florida Department of Health announced Monday.
Meanwhile, state daily positivity rate of tests received from labs Sunday rose by less than 1 percentage point to 8.03 and the first-time posivity rate remained stable at 5.52 percent. In Palm Beach County, the first-time rate dropped under 4 percent at 3.49 on 2,932 negative tests.
Sunday's death increase was 14, which was the lowest since 12 on June 22. Saturday's rise was 148 after trending down for four days: 183 Tuesday, 153 Wednesday, 135 Thursday, 89 Friday.
Deaths traditionally are lower from weekend data, including 51 last Sunday and 72 last Monday. The last time deaths were below 40 was 35 on Monday, July 13.
Palm Beach County's death total rose by 2 to 1,119, second highest in the state behind Miami-Dade and ahead of Broward, after no deaths were reported Sunday.
On the Treasure Coast, the only increase was in Martin that went from 114 to 118. Remaining the same were St. Lucie at 235 and Indian River at 98. Okeechobee stayed at 15 after reporting its first two deaths on July 25.
Broward climbed by 1 and Miami-Dade rose by 34 deaths.
In South Florida, there were 41 of the 68 deaths, 60.3 percent, for a total of 5,206 at 46.5 percent though the population only comprises 30 percent.
Pinellas rose by 8 to 658 deaths in fourth place and Hillsborough went up by 4 to 551 in fifth place. Polk climbed by 1 to 443 in sixth and Lee increased by 5 to 423.
Florida is in fifth place in the United States with 11,187 deaths, and nonresident deaths remained at 144 for a total of 11,331. On June 16, Florida was in 11th place in the nation.
Texas is in fourth place with the addition of 26 deaths Monday after a state-record 324 on Aug. 11, for a total of 12,536. California reported 28 new deaths and is in third place overall with 12,933.
Florida's cases have been under 3,000 for only four times since late June, including 2,583 on Sunday. In all the cases have been under 5,000 for 16 days in a row.
The last time cases were under 2,000 was June 15 with 1,758.
The daily rate for 39,507 tested, which was the lowest in two weeks, remained around 8 percent for three days in a row after 7.29 when there were 60,070 tests and previously 7.12. The two-week low was 7.04 percent on Aug. 21. The first-time cases positivity rate remained near 5 percent for two straight days, 5.52 after 5.12, after a two-week low of 4.93 the previous day and 4.94 on Aug. 21. The rate has been under 8 percent since Aug. 16.
In Palm Beach County, the first-time positivity rate has been below 6 percent for 14 days, including nine times near 5 percent and under. The lowest was 3.56 one Saturday ago.
The county daily cases increased was 35 less than 135 Sunday.
Florida's new hospitalizations rose by 85 compared with 96 the day before. The state reported Monday there are currently 3,993 hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, which is 258 less than the day before.
Deaths
Deaths in the state have accelerated over nearly six months since the first fatalities were announced on March 6. It took 49 days for the death toll to reach the first 1,000 yet it was only 40 days to more than double with an increase of 6,000. The average number of deaths per day in Florida is 63.
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 Sunday 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: 183 on Aug. 5.
In a state list of cases and deaths released Monday, it reported 68 deaths from the previous report with none removed after further determining a cause of death.
Deaths rose by `790 in the state over seven days (a daily average of 113) for 7.6 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 58 for 5.5 percent. The U.S. figure is 3.7 percent with the world at 4.6 percent.
Miami-Dade climbed to 2,437, which is 184 more in one week. Broward increased to 1,184 with a rise of 52 in one week. Indian River has risen by 18 deaths in one week compared with St. Lucie rising by 17 deaths, Martin by 6 and Okeechobee by 2.
Palm Beach County's death count is higher than 22 states, including Iowa's 1,116 after reporting 4 Monday. Wisconsin is 3 ahead of Florida with 1,122, reporting no new deaths Monday.
The state on Monday identified 2 deaths in Palm Beach County: a 68-year-old man and an 80-year-old woman. Martin's increases were 4 men (73, 82, 85, 89).
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 623,471, second in the nation.
In one week, cases have risen by 20,543, which average 2,934 per day, at 3.4 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 704,085 with the addition of 4,176, the most in the U.S. on Monday. Texas had the second-most new cases, 2,374 and is third overall with 612,969. New York, which was the leader during much of the pandemic, is in fourth at 434,756 with 354 more. Missouri had the third-most new cases, 2,233, and is in 21st place.
Florida's daily case increases have been below 10,000 since July 26 when they climbed by 12,199.
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 41,965, including residents and nonresidents.
Miami-Dade's cases were 371 compared with 521, and Broward's increase was 171 vs. 186. In the Treasure Coast area, the rise over one day was 17 in St. Lucie, 47 in Martin, 1 in Indian River and 4 in Okeechobee.
Testing
Florida's total now is 4,622,552 fourth in the nation, behind No. 1 New York, No. 2 California and No. 3 Texas. That Florida figure is 21.4 percent of Florida's population, though some people tested more than once.
The overall positive rate was 13.49 percent Monday, the same as the day before.
The daily rate at one time was around 2-3 percent but has risen to 8.03 in daily tests with the state target rate under 10 percent. 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 was under 7 percent for the second time in two weeks, at 6.54 after 6.62, and 6 days in a row under 8 percent. The highest was 26.4 on July 8. Broward has been under 5 percent for four successive days: 4.77, then 4.21 then 4.18, 4.47 and most recently 4.19, and a two-week high of 7.55 on Aug. 17.
Elsewhere, St. Lucie's rate declined to a two-week low of 3.19 percent after 3.97 the day before with the high 13.98 last Monday. Martin's rate dropped from 10.25 to 9.18 percent with two-week low of 4.40. On Aug. 23. Indian River's rate was a two-week low of 1.28 on 154 negative tests and one positive after 1.36 the previous day and two other times under 2 percent with the high 6.78 on Aug. 24. Okeechobee's rate spiked to 14.81 percent on 23 negative tests from 5.71 on 99 negatives and a two-week high of 11.96 Aug. 22 on 81 negative tests and 0 percent Aug. 23 on 28 tests.
Palm Beach County has 41,965 cases out of 323,337 total tested for 12.98 percent overall, not including those awaiting tests and inconclusive.
Miami-Dade leads with 156,910 positive cases out of 811,036tested for 19.35 percent, and Broward is second with 71,121 cases and 501,811 tested for 14.17 percentage.
In Martin County, it's 4,497 of 30,988 for 14.51 percent. In St. Lucie, it's 6,992 out of 51,363 for 13.61 percent, Indian River with 2,835 of 30,869 for 9.18percent and Okeechobee 1,243 of 9,905 for 12.55 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 3.0 percent in the United States and 3.3 percent worldwide, which passed 854,000 deaths and passed 25.6 million cases Monday.
Palm Beach County's rate was 2.7 percent, compared with Broward at 1.7 percent and Miami-Dade with 1.6 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 521 deaths per 1 million people compared with the U.S. average of 567 per million. New York, which represents 17.6 percent of the deaths in the nation, has 1,698 per million. Worldwide, the figure is 109.6 per million.
Age breakdown
The median age for all deaths in Florida is 79.
Four deaths are among youths 14 and under, a figure that was unchanged: 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.
The two classes had no additions.
Seventy-five people from 25 to 34 also have died from the virus, with 2 additions.
A total of 3,598 people 85 and older have died in the state from the virus, an increase of 15 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 10,528 cases of infants to 4 years old, an increase of 40, and 244 were hospitalized, which rose by 1. From ages 5-14, there are 25,500 , an increase of 96 with 219 in the hospital at one time, which didn't change.
From the infant to 54 age group, 443,510 of the 616,629 residents tested. In that group, 781 have died, with an increase of 5, for a 0.18 death percentage. From infant to 64, there are 524,211cases. A total of 1,912 have died, an increase of 12, for a 0.38 percentage.
Cities
West Palm Beach is in first place among Palm Beach County cities with 10,471, with an increase of 24. Lake Worth, which includes the city and county portion, rose 21 to 7,303 followed by Boca Raton at 5,740 up from 5,713, Boynton Beach at 3,749 from 3,740 and Delray Beach at 2,873 vs. 2,868 A total of 911 in the county not designated by a city.
Port St. Lucie leads the Treasure Coast with 4,100, an increase of 3 followed by Fort Pierce at 2,519, up 8, and Stuart with 2,114, which was an increase of 23
In Indian River County, Fellsmere, which has a population of 5,754, remained at 394 compared with only 3 on May 31.
Hospitalizations
A total of 38,495 people in the state have been hospitalized, a rise from 36,596 seven days ago. That means it is a running total and includes people who have been released or died.
The number is 3,339 in Palm Beach County, an increase of 7 compared with 5 the day before; 378 in Martin, which increased by 1; 464 in St. Lucie with no change, Indian River went up by 1 to 254 and Okeechobee stayed at 132.
Long-term care
Forty-two percent of the deaths, 4,702 are residents and staff of long-term care, including 480 in Palm Beach County, which is second most in the state behind 702 in Miami-Dade. The state increase was 20 and in Palm Beach County it rose by 1.
National
Since the first death was reported six months ago on Feb. 29, the toll has risen to 181,074, an increase of 512 on Monday, according to Worldometers.info.
Johns Hopkins reports 183,563, a gain of 497.
Cases reached 6,211,796 with an increase of 38,560, according to Worldometers.info. They have exceeded 70,000 seven times, including a record 78,446 on July 24.
Last Monday in the U.S., there were 510 more deaths and 41,386 more cases.
The one week U.S. death increase was 6,662 at 3.7 percent.
New York has the most deaths in the nation at 33,030, with 9 reported, after a high of 799 in April.
Among other states in the top 10 for deaths: No. 2 New Jersey 7, No. 6 Massachusetts 11, No. 7 Illinois 7, No. 8 Pennsylvania `10, No. 9 Michigan 5, No. 10 Georgia 28.
Also, No. 11 Arizona reported a net decrease of 1 death as well as 174 additional cases. Also, No. 20 Mississippi's 32 deaths were the second most in the nation. No. 23 Washington, the original epicenter in the United States, reported 10 deaths.
Worldwide
The U.S. represented 12.1 percent of the 4,221 additional deaths Monday and 22.0 percent of the world total though its population is only 4.3 percent of the global total. The one week world death increase was 37,916 at 4.6 percent.
Last Monday's death increase was 4,356.
Cases increased by 244,557, behind a record 289,648 on July 24.
Brazil, which is second behind the United States for deaths, reported 619 deaths to rise to 121,515. Brazil's record is 1,554 on July 29. The nation added 48,590 cases for a total of 3,908,272 and only behind the U.S.
India reported 971 additional deaths to rise to 64,469 and past Mexico into third place. The Asian nation also reported 78,512 cases, slightly below the record 78,761 the day before for a third-place total of 3,621,245, behind the U.S. and Brazil.
Mexico is 55 deaths behind India, reporting 256 more deaths late Monday compared with a high of 1,092 on June 4 for a total of 64,414 in third place.
Four European nations are in the top 10. The United Kingdom reported a 2 additional deaths for 41,501 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 6 deaths. No. 7 France reported 29 deaths and and No. 8 Spain 28.
No. 9 Peru gained 156 deaths and No. 10 Iran had 109.
Russia is in fourth place in the world in cases with 995,319, including an additional 4,993. The nation gained 83 deaths and is in 12th.
No. 17 Canada reported 9 deaths to rise to 9,126, as well as 1,008 cases, the highest since 1,012 on May 25.
Sweden, which has been doing "herd immunity," reported 5 deaths and has 5,808 total. Neighboring Norway announced zero deaths for the 11th day in a row to remain at 264 deaths, as well as 103 more cases.
No. 28 China, the original epicenter of the world, hasn’t reported a death since April 26, and added `10 cases Tuesday.
Japan reported 15 deaths Monday for a total of 1,279.