WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida's additional coronavirus deaths rose by 64, which is less than half from the previous day and also last Wednesday, and new cases remained stable at 2,883, but the state's daily first-time positivity rate climbed into the 5 percent range, including a rise in Palm Beach County to mid-4 percent, the Florida Department of Health announced.
Florida's first-time daily infection rate of tests reported to labs was 5.42 percent one day after 4.96. The two-week low of 3.74 was Oct. 3 and the high of 7.85 three days ago when the state was dealing with a massive data dump. Palm Beach County's rate increased to 4.48 percent from 4.10, and two days after 1.88, which was the lowest since 1.5 percent on May 19. The previous low was 2.14 on Sept. 27 and the previous two-week high was 4.18 on Sept. 30, not including the day involving the data dump.
The state's total daily positivity rate for all tests was 6.65 percent on 57,269 tests received Tuesday after 6.24 on 58,767 tests. The highest percentage was 9.23 percent three days ago. Only 20,987 tests were reported Sept. 27 and the record test total was 142,964 July 11. Palm Beach County had 161 positive tests.
In the state, fatalities rose by 119 Tuesday and 137 last Wednesday. Infections rose by 2,725 Tuesday and 2,582 last Wednesday.
Increased deaths were as high as 164 and cases 3,306 last Thursday. The one-day increase of 164 was the most since 174 on Wednesday, Sept. 30. The record was 276 deaths on Tuesday, Aug. 11.
Since the first two deaths were announced on March 6, which is 222 days, the death toll has reached 15,595, with an average of 70 per day, with the total including nonresidents 15,788, which increased by 2 to 193.
It took 12 days for the death toll to pass 15,000 Thursday, nine days to surpass 14,000 and eight to go past 12,000.
It was 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. Nearly three month 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: 64 on Sept. 14.
In the state report Wednesday, 81 deaths were added, including 9 in Palm Beach County, with 17 cases changed for a net increase of 64.
Palm Beach County's death toll increased by 5 to 1,465, third highest in the state behind Miami-Dade and Broward, after an increase of 12 the day before. On the Treasure Coast, St. Lucie rose by 1 to 310, Martin remained at 151, Indian River remained at 119. Okeechobee rose by 1 to 35 deaths with its first two fatalities on July 25.
Broward increased by 3 and Miami-Dade by 20.
With a net increase of 29 deaths in South Florida of the 64 state total, which is 45.3 percent, there are 7,049, which is 45.2 percent of the state figure though the population only comprises 30 percent.
Monday's increased cases were 1,533. One Monday ago, Sept. 29, the 738 cases were fewest since June 2 when there were 617 additional infections. Then, they then increased to 3,266 on Tuesday, Sept. 30.
Thursday's cases' increase of 3,306 was the most in one day since 3,573 on Sept. 19. The last time cases were more than 4,000 was 4,684 on Aug. 22.
Florida's total of 741,632 cases is nearly 10 percent of the total infections in the U.S. though the state only comprises 6.5 percent of the population.
On Sunday, Sept. 27, cases passed 700,000 after surpassing 600,000 more than one month ago, Aug. 23.
Cases in Florida have been trending lower, including in South Florida.
Palm Beach County's daily cases increased by 161 after 172 for two days. On Sept. 28, the rise was 27.
Florida's new hospitalizations rose by 257 compared with 210 the day before. The state reported Wednesday there are currently 2,150 hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, which is 15 more than Tuesday.
Deaths
Florida is in fifth place in the United States in fatalities. On June 16, Florida was in 11th place in the nation.
Texas is in second place with the addition of a U.S.-high 95 deaths after a state-record 324 on Aug. 11, for a total of 16717. California reported 58 and is in third place with 16,639, which is 78 behind Texas. New Jersey, which had been second throughout the pandemic, is in fourth place with 16,191, adding 9 fatalities.
Deaths rose by 691 in the state over seven days (a daily average of 99) for 4.6 percent, a figure tally that had been more than 1,200 deaths recently. Before that, the one-week figure was in the mid 200s. Palm Beach County increased by 57 for 4.0 percent. The U.S. figure is 2.3 percent with the world at 3.4 percent.
Miami-Dade rose to 3,485 with 117 more in one week. Broward increased to 1,484 with an increase of 44 in one week. St. Lucie has gone up by 15 deaths in one week compared with Martin by 9, Indian River none and Okeechobee by 7, the most ever in seven days for the county.
Palm Beach County's death count is higher than 20 states, including Kentucky's 1,276 with 7 reported Wdnesday.
Pinellas increased by 1 to 788 deaths in fourth place and Hillsborough up by 1 to 720 in fifth place, Polk by 6 to 563 in sixth, Orange by 3 to 523 in seventh and Lee by 1 to 485.
On Wednesday, the state identified 9 deaths in Palm Beach County, 6 women (43, 58, 58, 67, 88, 97) and 3 men (76, 86, 90) though the net increase was 4. St. Lucie reported 3 men (80, 83, 87) and 2 women (70, 86). Martin added 2 women (78, 79) and an 88-year-old man. Okeechobee reported a 53-year-old man and St. Lucie an 80-year-old woman.
Cases
Since the first two cases were announced on March 1, Florida's total has surged to 3.5 percent of the state's 21.48 million population with 741,632, third in the nation. The average over 227 days is 3,267 per day.
In one week, cases have risen by 18,925, which averages 2,704 per day, at 2.6 percent.
California has the most cases in the U.S. at 855,072 with the addition of 2,666 Wednesday. Texas had a U.S.-high 4,564 and is second overall with 805,082. New York, which was the leader during much of the pandemic, is in fourth at 477,940, with an additional 1,232. Wisconsin reported 3,107 cases one day after a state-record with 3,279 and is 17th overall.
Florida's daily case increases have been below 10,000 since July 26 when they climbed by 12,199.
The record for most cases was 15,300 cases, which was the highest 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 48,337, including residents and nonresidents.
Miami-Dade's cases were 4343 compared with 440 the day before and Broward's increase was 265 vs. 1772. In the Treasure Coast area, the rise over one day, Martin was 13 vs. 16, St. Lucie 27 vs. 21, Indian River 8 vs. 9 and Okeechobee 7 vs. 4.
Testing
Florida's total number of people tested is 5,622,438, which is 26.2 percent of the state's population behind No. 1 California, No. 2 New York, No. 3 Texas and No. 4 Illinois.
The overall Florida positive rate remained at 13.19 percent from 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 was 5.08 percent compared with 4.47 the day before, a two-week high 6.01 on Oct. 5 not including the day of the data dump and a two-week low of 3.05 on Oct. 4. The rate hit 26.4 on July 8. Broward's rate was 4.12 percent after 3.15, a two-week low of 2.08 on Oct. 4 and a high of 3.99 on Sept. 30, not including the data dump day.
Elsewhere, St. Lucie's rate was 3.81 percent from 2.59, a two-week high of 5.06 on Sept. 30, not including the data dump, and a low 2.44 five days ago not including the day after the data dump. Martin's rate was a two-week high of 4.1 percent, not including the data dump, after 3.74 and a two-week low of 1.11 two days ago. Indian River's rate was 2.58 percent after a two-week low of 2.06, not including the data dump and two-week high of 6.53 on Sept. 30. Okeechobee's rate was 3.45percent on 196 negative tests after 5.33 on 71 negative tests, zero on 22 tests two days ago and a two-week high of 10.26 on Oct. 4, not including the data dump.
Palm Beach County has 48,337 cases out of 389,891 total tested for 12.4 percent overall, not including those awaiting tests and inconclusive.
Miami-Dade leads with 176,271 positive cases out of 968,045 tested for 18.21 percentage, and Broward is second with 79,876 cases and 602,109 tested for 13.27 percentage.
In Martin County, it's 5,102 of 39,640 for 12.87 percent. In St. Lucie, it's 8,443 out of 66,707 for 12.66 percent, Indian River with 3,458 of 39,173 for 8.83 percent and Okeechobee 1,650 of 11,683 for 14.12 percent.
Mortality rate
The mortality rate compares positive cases against deaths.
The state's rate was 2.1 percent for all deaths and cases, including nonresidents, compared with 2.8 percent in the United States and 2.8 percent worldwide, which passed 1,096,000 deaths and passed 38.7 million cases Wednesday, according to Worldometers.info.
Palm Beach County's rate is 3.1 percent compared with Broward at 1.9 percent and Miami-Dade with 2.0 percent. With much fewer deaths, the mortality rate is 3.7 percent in St. Lucie, 3.0 in Martin, 3.5 percent in Indian River and Okeechobee 2.1 percent.
Florida has 726 deaths per 1 million people compared with the U.S. average of 669 per million. New York, which represents 15.4 percent of the deaths in the nation, has 1,718 per million. Worldwide, the figure is 140.6 per million.
Age breakdown
Five deaths are among youths 14 and under, a 6-year-old from Hillsborough, a 9-year-year old from Putnam, two 11-year-olds, a boy in Miami-Dade and a girl in Broward, as well as a 12-year-girl from Duval.
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 change.
Ninety-four people from 25 to 34 also have died from the virus with 1 more.
A total of 4,984 people 85 and older have died in the state from the virus, an increase of 19 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 12,503 cases of infants to 4 years old, an increase of 39, and 300 were hospitalized, which went up by 4. From ages 5-14, there are 31,696, an increase of 159, with 278 in the hospital at one time, which went up by 4.
From the infant to 54 age group, there are 527,819 of the 732,399 residents' cases. In that group, 1,048 have died, with an increase of 5, for a 0.20 death percentage. From infant to 64, there are 623,059 cases. A total of 2,755 have died, an increase of 13 for a 0.44 percentage.
Cities
West Palm Beach is in first place among Palm Beach County cities with 11,782 with an increase of 17. Lake Worth, which includes the city and county portion, increased by 17 to 8,067, followed by Boca Raton at 7,165 up from 7,131. Boynton Beach went to 4,263 from 4,250 and Delray Beach at 3,299 vs. 3,292. A total of 1,268 in the county not designated by a city. In addition, the list of cities includes separate listings of misspellings and miscoded counties.
Port St. Lucie leads the Treasure Coast with 4,978, an increase of 15, followed by Fort Pierce at 2,906, up 10, and Stuart with 2,369, which rose by 3.
In Indian River County, Fellsmere, which has a population of 5,754, rose by 1 to 420 compared with only 3 on May 31.
Hospitalizations
A total of 47,482 people in the state have been hospitalized, a rise from 45,259 seven days ago. That means it is a running total and includes people who have been released or died.
The number is 3,908 in Palm Beach County, with a increase of 27 compared with 16 the day before; 411 in Martin, which went up by 1; St. Lucie at 726 with an increase of 6, Indian River remained at 323 and Okeechobee from 185 to 187.
Long-term care
Forty-one percent of the deaths, 6,326 are residents and staff of long-term care, including 661 in Palm Beach County, which is second most in the state behind 828 in Miami-Dade. The state increase was 21 and Palm Beach County went up by 3.
Nation
Since the first death was reported six months ago on Feb. 29, the national toll has risen to 216,639, a rise of 752, according to Johns Hopkins. Worldometers.info has tabulated 221,843 deaths with an increase of 970.
Cases reached 7,909,035 with an increase of 52,430, according to Hopkins. They have exceeded 70,000 seven times, including a record 78,446 on July 24 and the last time was July 31.
Last Wednesday in the U.S., there were 915 more deaths and 50,341 cases.
The one week U.S. death increase was 4,838 at 2.3 percent.
New York has the most deaths in the nation at 33,316, with Johns Hopkins reporting an increase of 10 after a high of 799 in April. Hopkins lists confirmed and probable deaths, with the latter not a positive case.
Among other states in the top 10 for deaths: No. 6 Massachusetts 17, No. 7 Illinois 48, No. 8 Pennsylvania 23, No. 9 Georgia 16 and No. 10 Michigan 13.
Also, No. 11 Arizona reported 6 deaths, as well as an additional 901 cases. Washington, the original epicenter in the United States, reported 10 and dropped back to 25th behind Minnesota.
Worldwide
The U.S. represented 15.9 percent of 5,008 additional deaths Wednesday and 20.2 percent of the world total though its population is only 4.3 percent of the global total.
The one week world death increase was 36,323 at 3.4 percent.
Last Wednesday's death increase was 5,905.
Cases increased by a record 381,466, three days after a previous marks of 359,270, according to Worldometers.info. The world has been gaining 1 million cases every three days.
Brazil, which is second behind the United States for deaths, reported 716 deaths to rise to 151,779. Brazil's record is 1,554 on July 29. The nation added 26,675 cases, compared with 34,650 four days before, at 5,141,498 in third place.
India reported 63,509 cases, compared with a world-record 97,894, for second-place behind the U.S. with 7,239,390. Also, India recorded 730 deaths, behind a national-record 1,299, to rise to 110,586 and in third place.
Mexico announced 478 more deaths late Wednesday compared with a high of 1,092 on June 4 for a total of 84,898 in fourth place.
Four European nations are in the top 10 as cases are surging at record levels and deaths are surging on the continent. The United Kingdom reported 137 additional deaths for 43,155 in fifth place with the record daily high 1,172, as well as a record 19,724 cases. No. 6 Italy, which at one time was the world's epicenter and reached 919 in one day, reported 43 deaths and a record 7,332 cases. No. 8 Spain reported 209 deaths and 11,970 cases, behind the record 14,087 on Sept. 18. No. 9 France is 376 deaths behind Spain, announcing 104 as well as 22,591 cases, four days after a record 26,896.
No. 7 Peru announced 93 and is 376 ahead of Spain. No. 10 Iran reported a record 279 deaths two days after the former mark of 272 and a record 4,830 cases.
Russia is in fourth place in the world in cases with 1,340,409, including a record 14,231 cases. The nation gained 239 deaths one day after a record 244 and in 13th.
No. 21 Canada reported 10 deaths for a total of 9,664 and 2,506 cases one day after a record 4,042. Between May 26 and Aug. 30 cases were never more than 1,000.
Sweden, which has been doing "herd immunity" with no lockdown, reported 6 deaths and is at 5,907. Neighboring Norway remained at 278, as well as 162 more cases.
No. 32 China, the original epicenter of the world, hasn’t reported a death since April 26, added 11 cases Thursday.