WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida's newly reported deaths increased by a U.S.-high 139, a similar number as the past three days, as new cases rose by 3,204, just 51 less than the day before, and first-time daily positivity rates declined, including barely above 4 percent in the state and under 4 percent in Palm Beach County, the Florida Health Department announced Friday.
The state's first-time positivity rate decreased from 4.44 percent to 4.18 percent after a two-week low of 3.85 four days ago with every day over 14 days under 6 percent. In Palm Beach County, the rate dropped to 3.77 percent from 4.11, a two-week low of 2.95 four 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.
The state's total daily positivity rates for all tests decreased to 5.33 percent on 84,098 tests received from labs Thursday – the highest tests in two weeks – from 5.68 on 80,704 tests. The two-week low was 5.17 percent four days ago and the high was 8.13 percent on Sept. 8. The record test total was 142,964 July 11.
Since the first two deaths were announced on March 6, the death toll has climbed to 13,225 among residents, with an average of 67 per day, and 13,387 including 162 nonresidents, which didn't change.
On Sept. 9, the death toll passed 12,000 to 12,115.
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.
Palm Beach County reported 18 new deaths for a total of 1,254, third highest in the state behind Miami-Dade and Broward, after 20 were reported Thursday. On the Treasure Coast, no new deaths were reported with St. Lucie at 259, Martin at 132 and Indian River at 109. Okeechobee stayed at 22 with its first two deaths on July 25.
Broward increased by 6 and Miami-Dade by 50.
In South Florida, there were 74 of the 139 deaths, 53.2 percent, for a total of 6,138 at 46.5 percent though the population only comprises 30 percent.
Deaths in the state rose by 147 on Thursday, 152 on Wednesday and 145 on Tuesday. Previously, 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.
The last time deaths hit 200 was one week ago Thursday with 211 after 200 the previous day. Before that, the last 200-plus day was Aug. 18. The state record was 276 on Aug. 11.
Cases in Florida are much lower than three months ago.
On Thursday cases rose by 3,255 after Wednesday's 2,355, Tuesday's 3,116 and 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 223 after 224 the day before and 100 last week.
Florida's new hospitalizations rose by 187 compared with 196 the day before. The state reported Friday there are currently 2,384 hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, which is 1 more 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 123 deaths after a state-record 324 on Aug. 11, for a total of 14,713. California reported 91 new deaths and is in third place overall with 14,812, just 99 ahead of Texas.
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: 104 on Aug. 19.
In a state report Friday, 139 deaths were added from the last day's report and none removed after determining they weren't related to COVID-19.
Deaths rose by 723 in the state over seven days (a daily average of 103) 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 increased by 79 for 65.6 percent. The U.S. figure is 3.4 percent with the world at 4.0 percent.
Miami-Dade rose to 3,027, which is 191 more in one week. Broward increased to 1,317 with a rise of 41 in one week. St. Lucie has risen by 3 deaths in one week compared with Martin by 6, Indian River by 5 and Okeechobee by 2.
Palm Beach County's death count is higher than 23 states, including Iowa with 1,260 after adding 9 and Wisconsin with 1,238 after gaining 7.
Pinellas rose by 5 to 720 deaths in fourth place and Hillsborough increased by 3 to 604 in fifth place. Polk went up by 2 to 505 in sixth and Lee rose by 2 to 459.
The state identified 18 deaths in Palm Beach County: 9 men (51, 61, 64, 82, 86, 91, 91, 92, 99) and 9 women (37, 66, 76, 79, 82, 86, 97, 99).
Cases
Since the first two cases were announced on March 1, Florida's total has surged to 3.2 percent of the state's 21.48 million population with 677,660, third in the nation when the state was surpassed by Texas on Wednesday. The average over six months is 3,371 per day.
In one week, cases have risen by 19,279, which average 2,754 per day, at 2.9 percent.
Cases passed 600,000 Aug. 23 and 500,000 on Aug. 5.
California has the most cases in the U.S. at 769,831 with the addition of 3,630. Texas had a U.S.-high 3,978 for second with 682,241. New York, which was the leader during much of the pandemic, is in fourth at 448,052 with 790 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 44,906, including residents and nonresidents.
Miami-Dade's cases were 385 compared with 448 and Broward's increase was 218 vs. 216. In the Treasure Coast area, the rise over one day was 11 in Martin, 38 in St. Lucie, 23 in Indian River, 33 in Okeechobee.
Testing
Florida's total number of people tested is 5,045,344, fourth in the nation, behind No. 1 New York, No. 2 California and No. 3 Texas. That Florida figure is 23.5 percent of Florida's population.
The overall positive rate increased to 13.43 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 eight days in a row, most recently a two-week low of 3.63 after 3.73 and the two-week high 6.28 on Sept. 8. The rate hit 26.4 on July 8. Broward's rate increased to 3.36 from 2.61 percent with the low 2.32 last Friday and a high of 3.99 on Sept. 4.
Elsewhere, St. Lucie's rate decreased to 3.92 from 4.08 and a two-week high of 7.23 three days ago with two-week low of 2.40 five days ago. Martin's rate was 7.34 percent after 5.80, a two-week low of 1.59 two days ago and a high of 9.68 Sept. 8. Indian River's rate was 3.78 after 2.32, a two-week high of 4.59 percent three days ago and a two-week low of 1.66 on Sept. 5, which was among 5 days near 2 percent and below. Okeechobee's rate was 17.02 percent on 156 negative tests after 6.47 percent on 289 negative tests, a two-week high of 24.1 on 44 tests five days ago, a low of 2.86 on 34 negative tests on Sept. 6.
Palm Beach County has 44,906 cases out of 351,684 total tested for 12.77 percent overall, not including those awaiting tests and inconclusive.
Miami-Dade leads with 165,980 positive cases out of 878,521 tested for 18.89 percent, and Broward is second with 75,266 cases and 545,086 tested for 13.81 percentage.
In Martin County, it's 4,666 of 33,731 for 13.83 percent. In St. Lucie, it's 7,742 out of 58,105 for 13.35 percent, Indian River with 3,049 of 33,954 for 8.98 percent and Okeechobee 1,409 of 10,560 for 13.34 percent.
Mortality rate
The mortality rate compares positive cases against deaths.
The state's rate increased to 2.0 percent for all deaths and cases, including nonresidents, compared with 3.0 percent in the United States and 3.1 percent worldwide, which neared 956,000 deaths and neared 30.7 million cases Friday, according to Worldometers.info.
Palm Beach County's rate was 2.9 percent, compared with Broward at 1.8 percent and Miami-Dade with 1.8 percent. With much fewer deaths, the mortality rate is 3.4 percent in St. Lucie, 2.8 percent in Martin, 3.6 percent in Indian River and 1.6 percent in Okeechobee.
Florida has 616 deaths per 1 million people compared with the U.S. average of 613 per million. New York, which represents 16.7 percent of the deaths in the nation, has 1,705 per million. Worldwide, the figure is 122.6 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-eight people from 25 to 34 also have died from the virus, which went up by 2.
A total of 4,280 people 85 and older have died in the state from the virus, an increase of 36 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 11,465 cases of infants to 4 years old, an increase of 57, and 268 were hospitalized, with an increase of 3. From ages 5-14, there are 28,138, an increase of 127 with 242 in the hospital at one time, with 1 more.
From the infant to 54 age group, 482,203 of the 669,684 residents' cases. In that group, 894 have died, with an increase of 6, for a 0.19 death percentage. From infant to 64, there are 569,405 cases. A total of 2,323 have died, an increase of 31, for a 0.41 percentage.
Cities
West Palm Beach is in first place among Palm Beach County cities with 11,066, with an increase of 52. Lake Worth, which includes the city and county portion, rose by 28 to 7,693, followed by Boca Raton at 6,410, up from 6,358, Boynton Beach at 3,975 from 3,962 and Delray Beach at 3,058 vs. 3,044. A total of 1,016 in the county not designated by a city.
Port St. Lucie leads the Treasure Coast with 4,569, an increase of 26, followed by Fort Pierce at 2,737, up 11, and Stuart with 2,186, which was an increase of 1.
In Indian River County, Fellsmere, which has a population of 5,754, increased by 3 to 402 compared with only 3 on May 31.
Hospitalizations
A total of 42,234 people in the state have been hospitalized, a rise from 41,021 seven days ago. That means it is a running total and includes people who have been released or died.
The number is 3,529 in Palm Beach County, with an increase of 8 compared with 9 the day before; 385 in Martin, which went up by 1; 634 in St. Lucie with an increase of 1, Indian River decreased by 2 to 286 and Okeechobee remained at 160.
Long-term care
Forty-one percent of the deaths, 5,426 are residents and staff of long-term care, including 553 in Palm Beach County, which is second most in the state behind 771 in Miami-Dade. The state increase was 49 and in Palm Beach County it went up by 10.
National
Since the first death was reported six months ago on Feb. 29, the toll has risen to 198,484, a gain of 851, according to Johns Hopkins. Worldometers reported a gain of 958 to 203,171.
Cases reached 6,722,699 with an increase of 48,588. They have exceeded 70,000 seven times, including a record 78,446 on July 24 and the last time was July 31.
Last Friday in the U.S., there were 1,213 more deaths and 47,552 cases.
The one week U.S. death increase was 6,505 at 3.4 percent.
New York has the most deaths in the nation at 33,085 with 15 reported Friday, after a high of 799 in April.
Among other states in the top 10 for deaths: No. 2 New Jersey 5, No. 6 Massachusetts 9, No. 7 Illinois 23, No. 8 Pennsylvania 23, No. 9 Michigan 0, No. 10 Georgia 63.
Also, No. 11 Arizona reported 42 deaths, as well as an additional 1,282 cases after 1,753 the day before. No. 23 Washington, the original epicenter in the United States, reported 6 deaths.
Worldwide
The U.S. represented 27.6 percent of the 5,455 additional deaths Friay 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 36,478 at 4.0 percent.
Last Friday's death increase was 5,816.
Cases increased by a record 314,240 Friday, according to Worldometers.info.
Brazil, which is second behind the United States for deaths, initially reported 826 deaths to rise to 135,857. Brazil's record is 1,554 on July 29. The nation added 39,991 cases at 4,497,434 in third place.
India reported 96,424 cases after a world-record 97,894 the day before to rise to 5,214,677 which is second in world behind U.S. India also recorded a world-high 1,174 deaths, two days after a national-record 1,299, to rise to 84,732 and in third place.
Mexico announced 624 more deaths late Friday compared with a high of 1,092 on June 4 for a total of 72,803 in fourth place.
Four European nations are in the top 10 as cases are surging on the continent. The United Kingdom reported 27 additional deaths for 41,732 in fifth place with the record daily high 1,172, as well as 4,322 cases, the highest since 5,086 on May 7. No. 6 Italy, which at one time was the world's epicenter and reached 919 in one day, reported 10 deaths. No. 8 France announced 50 deaths, as well as a record 13,215 cases, shattering the mark of 10,594 the day before. No. 9 Spain had 90 deaths, as well as 4,697 cases after a record 11,291 cases the day before.
No. 7 Peru had 137 deaths and was 34 ahead of France. No. 10 Iran reported 144 deaths.
Russia is in fourth place in the world in cases with 1,091,186 including an additional 5,905. The nation gained 134 deaths and is in 12th.
No. 20 Canada reported 5 deaths for a total of 9,205 and 1,044 cases.
Sweden, which has been doing "herd immunity" with no lockdown, reported 5 deaths and 5,865 total. Neighboring Norway reported 1 death to rise to 267, as well as 64 more cases.
No. 30 China, the original epicenter of the world, hasn’t reported a death since April 26, and added 14 cases Saturday.