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State's coronavirus deaths rise by 87, cases increase 12,478; total tests pass 3 million

Palm Beach County's death toll rises by 13 to 679
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Posted at 11:10 AM, Jul 19, 2020
and last updated 2020-07-20 10:34:34-04

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida's coronavirus cases rose by five digits for the fifth day in a row, a U.S.-high 12,478, as the death toll subsided to 87 from a record 156 three days ago and total tests passed 3 million, including 115,149 in one day, the Florida Health Department announced Sunday.

Palm Beach County's deaths increased by 13 to 679, the second highest total in the state, after 7 on Saturday and a record 21 Friday. On the Treasure Coast, St. Lucie rose by 1 to 80, Martin remained at 48 and Indian River increased by 1 to 25. Okeechobee reported its first two deaths one week ago Saturday.

The state death increase Friday was 128 and it dropped to 95 Saturday. The other triple-digit days were 112 on Wednesday and 120 last Thursday. Until last week, the record was 83 on Tuesday, April 28.

Since the first two deaths were announced on March 6, the toll has climbed to 4,982 of residents into eighth place in the U.S. The number of nonresident deaths increased by 2 to 109 for a total death count of 5,091.

State and county increases represent deaths received by the state Saturday and not the number of fatalities that occurred then. The day someone dies and when it is received by the state can lag for several days. So far, the date with the most deaths was 96 on July 8.

Palm Beach County increased by 73 in one week. Miami-Dade climbed to 1,302, a 28 in one day and 163 in one week. Broward increased by 5 to 493 and 29 over over 7 days.

In South Florida, there were 48 of the 87 deaths reported Sunday for a total of 2,629 or 52.8 percent though the population only comprises 30 percent.

Pinellas is in fourth place with 314, a rise of 4 and Hillsborough is at 235 with an increase of 1. Lee is in sixth place with 232 at no change.

Florida had the third most reported deaths in the nation Sunday. Texas led with 93 and is in 10th place overall followed by California with 90 in fourth place. Arizona, which had a record 147 Saturday, dropped to 31 for 16th place.

Since the first two cases were announced four months ago on March 1, Florida's total has surged to 1.6 percent of the state's 21.48 million population at 350,047. Only three other states have passed 300,000: New York, California and Texas.

California reported the second-most cases, 9,329, followed by Texas with 7,300.

If Florida were a country, its new cases Sunday would rank fourth, not including the U.S., behind India with 40,243, Brazil with 24,650 and South Africa with 13,449.

One week ago Sunday, cases surpassed 200,000 in Florida.

Cases rose by 80,236 over one week for 29.7 percent.

Cases have hit five digits 12 times, all within the past few weeks. Saturday's case increase was 10,328 and Friday's rise was 11,548. The record was 15,300 last Sunday – the highest daily figure ever in the United States. During the height of the pandemic New York also surpassed 11,000.

Testing in Florida has dramatically ramped up from just a few at select sites to massive places throughout Florida as well as nursing homes, jails and farm workers. The total now is 3,006,290, fourth in the nation, behind No. 1 New York, No. 2 California and No. 3 Texas. That Florida figure is 14.0 percent of Florida's population.

The overall positive rate was a record 11.64 Sunday from 11.5 Saturday.

A few weeks ago the daily rate was around 2-3 percent but has risen to 14.26 percent of 115,149 coronavirus or anti-bodies tests reported by labs Saturday after 15.28 the day before with 92,625, a record 20.71 on July 8 and 17.23 two weeks ago when there were 69,981 tests.

The record test total was 142,966 last Saturday.

The daily percentages for all tests include 20.5 in Miami-Dade, 12.8 in Broward, 11.4 in Palm Beach, 10.8 in Martin, 12.9 in Okeechobee, 10.5 in St. Lucie and 9.8 in Indian River. Palm Beach reached as high as 16.1 over two weeks on Monday. And Miami-Dade's highest was 26.4 on July 8. The state's target rate is less than 10.0 percent.

The state reported 11.85 percent of people who tested for the first time were positive on tests received Saturday compared with 12.16 the day before and 14.98two weeks ago.

With more testing and no requirements for someone to take a test, the median age is at 40, but 41 for tests reported Saturday. In addition, the state mortality rate has subsided to 1.4 percent among residents but among those under 55 it is less than 0.2 percent.

And at one time, 20,971 have been hospitalized through Saturday, which is an increase of 339 in one day, compared with 441 the day before.

Cases

In Palm Beach County, new cases were 740 compared with 684 the day before. The record was 1,171 Sunday for a total of 25,785 including residents and nonresidents.

Miami-Dade's cases increased 3,212, compared with 3,159 the day before, and Broward at 1,150 vs. 1,218. In the Treasure Coast area, the rise was 127 in St. Lucie, 50 in Martin, 81 in Indian River and 18 in Okeechobee.

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.

Palm Beach County has risen by 4,767 cases in one week for a 22.7 percent gain. Miami-Dade has risen by 19,794 at 30.7 percent and Broward by 9,256 at 30.8 percent.

Over seven days, Martin County climbed by 374 cases for 13.7 percent, St. Lucie County rose by 765 for 26.7 percent, Indian River County by 400 for 33.8 percent and Okeechobee by 124 for 23.5 percent.

Deaths

Deaths rose by 740 in the state over seven days for 17.4 percent and in Palm Beach County it was 73 for 11.0 percent. Recently, the state increase was one-third in the 200s. The U.S. figure is 4.0 percent with the world at 6.2 percent.

Palm Beach County's death count is higher than 20 states, including Kentucky at 670 with a gain of 3 and Nevada at 647 with an increase of 1.

The state on Sunday identified 13 deaths in Palm Beach County: five men (62, 80, 89, 90, 91) and eight women (75, 80, 81, 90, 91, 91, 93, 97). St. Lucie's fatality was an 83-year-old man and Indian River's was a 86-year-old man.

Tests

Palm Beach County has 25,785 cases out of 212,399 total tested for 12.1 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 84,238 positive cases out of 495,185 tested for 17.0 percent, and Broward is second with 39,281 cases and 315,333 tested for 12.5 percentage.

In Martin County, it's 3,108 of 21,773 for 14.3 percent. In St. Lucie, it's 3,627 positive out of 32,741 for 11.1 percent, Indian River with 1,585 out of 21,036 for 7.5 percent and Okeechobee with 651 out of 5,009 for 13.0 percent.

Mortality rate

The mortality rate, which compares positive cases against deaths, has been trending down in the state.

It is 1.4 percent in the state for all deaths and cases, including nonresidents, compared with 3.7 percent in the United States and 4.2 percent worldwide, which passed 608,000 deaths and passed 14.6 million cases Sunday.

Palm Beach County's rate was 2.6 percent, compared with Broward at 1.3 percent and Miami-Dade with 1.6 percent. With much fewer deaths, the mortality rate is 2.2 percent in St. Lucie, 1.6 percent in Indian River, 1.5 percent in Martin and 0.3 percent in Okeechobee.

Florida has 232 deaths per 1 million people compared with the U.S. average of 433 per million. New York, which represents less than one-quarter of the deaths in the nation, has 1,674 per million. Worldwide, the figure is 78.1 per million.

Age breakdown

The youngest deaths are two 11-year-olds: a boy in Miami-Dade and a girl in Broward, who are the only two in the 5-14 age class.

There are 12 deaths in the 15-24 class with no change from the day before. They include a 20-year-old male and two 22-year-old females from Broward, a 16-year-old girl from Lee, a 17-year-old boy from Pasco County and a 22-year-old woman from Palm Beach County.

Thirty-four people from 25 to 34 also have died from the virus with no change,

A total of 1,721 people 85 and older have died in the state from the virus, an increase of 33 in one day.

Ninety-three percent of the fatalities are 55 and older and 62 percent 75 and older, which was a 1 percentage point increase in both categories. A smaller percentage of older people have tested positive – 25 percent age 55 and older and 6 percent 75 and older.

At the other end of the age spectrum, there are 5,583 cases of infants to 4 years old, an increase of 263, and 103 were hospitalized, which was an increase of 3. From ages 5-14, there are 12,338, an increase of 625 with 76 in the hospital at one time, which went up by 2.

From the infant to 54 age group, 253,689 of the 345,612 residents have tested positive. But in that group, 363, have died, increase of 4, for a 0.14 death percentage.

From infant to 65, there are 286,263 cases. A total of 849 have died, an increase of 10, for a 0.29 percentage.

Cities

West Palm Beach is in first place among Palm Beach County cities with 6,241, an increase of 212. Lake Worth, which includes the city and county portion, rose 122 to 4,803, followed by Boynton Beach at 2,242 from 2,178, Boca Raton at 3,211, up from 3,108, Delray Beach at 1,714 from 1,650. A total of 484 in the county not designated by a city.

Port St. Lucie leads the Treasure Coast with 2,199, an increase of 62, followed by Stuart with 1,542 vs. 1,517.

In Indian River County, Fellsmere, which has a population of 5,754, increased by 10 to 294, compared with only 3 on May 31.

Hospitalizations

A total of 20,971 people in the state have been hospitalized, a rise from 18,271 last Sunday. That means it is a running total and includes people who have been released or died.

The number is 2,269 in Palm Beach County, an increase of 44 compared with 16 the day before; 267 in Martin, an increase of 5; 261 in St. Lucie with no increase, Indian River increased by 7 to 114 and Okeechobee went from 63 to 64.

Long-term care

Nearly half of the deaths, 2,370 are residents and staff of long-term care, including 280 in Palm Beach County. The state increase was 27 and in Palm Beach County it was 4.

National

Since the first death was reported on Feb. 29, the toll has risen to 143,289, including an increase of 412 Sunday and 813 Saturday.

Before 1,002 deaths were reported Wednesday, the previous time they were more than 1,000 was June 9 with 1,105. Johns Hopkins reports 140,500.

Cases reached 3,898,550, with an increase of 65,279. Cases have exceeded 70,000 four times.

Last Sunday in the U.S., there were 381 more deaths and 58,621 more cases reported.

The one week U.S. death increase was 5,537 at 4.0 percent.

New York has the most deaths in the nation with 32,570, including 18 more Saturday after a high of 799 in April.

Among other states in the top 10: No. 2 New Jersey with 5, No. 3 Massachusetts `12, No. 5 Illinois 5, No. 6 Pennsylvania 5, No. 7 Michigan 2, No. 9 Connecticut with no data over the weekend.

Georgia added 5 and dropped to 14th behind Ohio with 40 more. Washington, which was the original epicenter in the United States, is in 21th place with an additional 3.

Worldwide

The U.S. represented 9.5 percent of the 4,616 additional deaths Sunday – and 23.5 percent of the world total though its population is only 4.3 percent of the global total. The one week world death increase was 35,779 at 6.2 percent.

The additional death toll last Sunday was 4,193.

Cases increased by 220,073, behind the record of 249,233 Thursday.

Brazil, which is second behind the United States for deaths, reported a world-high 716 deaths after 885 Saturday for a total of 78,533. The record is 1,492 on June 4. Brazil added 24,650 cases for a total of 2,099,896 – more than half as many as No. 1 U.S.

Mexico reported 578 more deaths late Sunday compared with 736 the day before and high of 1,092 on June 4. Mexico is in fourth place with a total of 39,184. In addition, there were 5,311 cases.

India added 675 deaths after 543 Saturday to rise to 25,503 in eighth place. The Asian nation also reported another record cases, 40,243, for a third-place total of 1,118,1074, behind the U.S. and Brazil.

Four European nations are in the top 10. The United Kingdom's deaths decreased from 40 to 27 for third place with 45,300. The daily high was 1,172.

No. 5 Italy, which at one time was the world's epicenter and reached 919 in one day, reported 3 deaths, among the lowest since its first three deaths from Feb. 21-23. No. 6 France and No. 7 Spain didn't report any data over the weekend.

Also in the top 10, No. 9 Iran reported 209, which is 12 from the record on July 9, and No. 10 Peru had 189.

Russia is in fourth place in the world in cases with 771,546, including an additional 6,109. The nation gained 95 deaths for 11th place.

No. 14 Canada added 4 deaths for a total of 8,852 as well as 339 cases.

No. 23 China, the original epicenter of the world, hasn’t reported a death since April 26, added 22 cases Monday.