WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida's newly reported deaths dropped to 62, more than half as many as the day before and four days of triple digits as cases rose by 3,573, which is 369 more than the day before, and first-time daily positivity rates slightly increased in the state and Palm Beach County, the Florida Health Department announced Saturday.
The state's first-time positivity rate increased from 4.15 to 4.53 percent after a two-week low of 3.84 five days ago with every day over 14 days under 6 percent. In Palm Beach County, the rate rose to 4.07 percent from 3.81, a two-week low of 2.95 five days ago and a two-week high was 5.75 Sept. 8. The county's rate has been under 4 percent 7 times over 14 days.
The state's total daily positivity rate for all tests rose to 5.70 percent on 86,403 tests received from labs Friday – the highest tests in two weeks – from 5.32 on 84,090 tests. The two-week low was 5.16 percent five 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 13,287 among residents, with an average of 67 per day, and 13,450, including 163 nonresidents, which went up by 1.
On Sept. 9, the death toll passed 12,000 to 12,115 and eight days later passed 13,000 on Thursday,
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 5 new deaths for a total of 1,277, third highest in the state behind Miami-Dade and Broward, after 18 were reported Friday. On the Treasure Coast, St. Lucie rose by 4 at 263, Martin remained at 132 and Indian River stayed at 109. Okeechobee increased by 1, a 96-year-old person of unknown sex, to 23 with its first two deaths on July 25.
Broward increased by 2 and Miami-Dade by 28.
In South Florida, there were 40 of the 62 deaths, 64.5 percent, for a total of 6,178 at 46.5 percent though the population only comprises 30 percent.
Deaths in the state rose by 139 on Friday, 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 Friday cases rose by 3,204, after Thursday's 3,255, 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 250 after 223 the day before and 100 last week.
Florida's new hospitalizations rose by 140 compared with 187 the day before. The state reported Saturday there are currently 2,266 hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, which is 118 less 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 a U.S.-high 135 deaths after a state-record 324 on Aug. 11, for a total of 14,848. California reported 100 new deaths and is in third place overall with 14,912, just 64 ahead of Texas.
State and county increases represent fatalities received by the state Friday 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: 105 on Aug. 21.
In a state report Saturday, 65 deaths were added from the last day's report and 3 removed after determining they weren't related to COVID-19.
Deaths rose by 687 in the state over seven days (a daily average of 98) for 5.5 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 81 for 6.8 percent. The U.S. figure is 2.9 percent with the world at 4.0 percent.
Miami-Dade rose to 3,055, which is 173 more in one week. Broward increased to 1,319 with a rise of 40 in one week. St. Lucie has risen by 7 deaths in one week compared with Martin by 5, Indian River by 5 and Okeechobee by 2.
Palm Beach County's death count is higher than 23 states, including Iowa with 1,264 after adding 3.
Pinellas rose by 1 to 721 deaths in fourth place and Hillsborough remained at 604 in fifth place. Polk went up by 2 to 507 in sixth and Lee stayed at 459.
The state identified 5 deaths in Palm Beach County: 3 men (68, 74, 87) and 2 women (89, 94). St. Lucie added 4 men (57, 73, 74, 85).
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 681,233, third in the nation when the state was surpassed by Texas on Wednesday. The average since March is 3,372 per day.
In one week, cases have risen by 19,662, which average 2,809 per day, at 3.0 percent.
Cases passed 600,000 Aug. 23 and 500,000 on Aug. 5.
California has the most cases in the U.S. at 774,135 with the addition of a U.S.-high 4,304. Texas had 3,433 for second with 686,068. New York, which was the leader during much of the pandemic, is in fourth at 449,038 with 976 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 45,156, including residents and nonresidents.
Miami-Dade's cases were 536 compared with 385 and Broward's increase was 233 vs. 218. In the Treasure Coast area, the rise over one day was 56 in Martin, 45 in St. Lucie, 23 in Indian River, 34 in Okeechobee.
Testing
Florida's total number of people tested is 5,075,633, fourth in the nation, behind No. 1 New York, No. 2 California and No. 3 Texas. That Florida figure is 23.6 percent of Florida's population.
The overall positive rate decreased to 13.42 percent from 13.43 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 nine days in a row, most recently 4.02 one day after a two-week low of 3.60 and a two-week high 6.27 on Sept. 8. The rate hit 26.4 on July 8. Broward's rate has been less than 4 percent for two weeks, including most recently 3.06 one day after 3.25 and a two-week low of 2.29 on Sept. 11.
Elsewhere, St. Lucie's rate decreased to 3.20 percent from 3.92 and a two-week high of 7.23 four days ago with two-week low of 2.40 six days ago. Martin's rate spiked to a two-week high of 9.96 percent from 7.58 and a two-week low of 1.59 three days ago. Indian River's rate was 3.77 percent after 3.60, a two-week high of 4.59 percent four days ago and a two-week low of 1.66 on Sept. 5, which was among 4 days near 2 percent and below. Okeechobee's rate was 16.59 percent on 175 negative tests after 16.13 percent on 156 negative tests, a two-week high of 24.14 on 44 tests three days ago, a low of 2.86 on 34 negative tests on Sept. 6.
Palm Beach County has 45,156 cases out of 353,772 total tested for 12.76 percent overall, not including those awaiting tests and inconclusive.
Miami-Dade leads with 166,516 positive cases out of 883,895 tested for 13.83 percent, and Broward is second with 75,499 cases and 547,819 tested for 13.78 percentage.
In Martin County, it's 4,722 of 34,017 for 13.83 percent. In St. Lucie, it's 7,787 out of 58,579 for 13.29 percent, Indian River with 3,072 of 34,187 for 8.99 percent and Okeechobee 1,443 of 10,680 for 13.51 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 passed 961,000 deaths and neared 31.0 million cases Saturay, 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 619 deaths per 1 million people compared with the U.S. average of 615 per million. New York, which represents 16.6 percent of the deaths in the nation, has 1,705 per million. Worldwide, the figure is 123.3 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 didn't change.
A total of 4,299 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 11,519 cases of infants to 4 years old, an increase of 54, and 269 were hospitalized, with an increase of 1. From ages 5-14, there are 28,319, an increase of 181 with 243 in the hospital at one time, with 1 more.
From the infant to 54 age group, 484,779 of the 673,194 residents' cases. In that group, 897 have died, with an increase of 3, for a 0.19 death percentage. From infant to 64, there are 572,363 cases. A total of 2,333 have died, an increase of 10, 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 1,030 in the county not designated by a city. In addition, the list of cities includes separate listings of misspelling and miscoded counties.
Port St. Lucie leads the Treasure Coast with 4,598, an increase of 28, followed by Fort Pierce at 2,748, up 11, and Stuart with 2,213, which was an increase of 27.
In Indian River County, Fellsmere, which has a population of 5,754, increased by 2 to 404 compared with only 3 on May 31.
Hospitalizations
A total of 42,374 people in the state have been hospitalized, a rise from 41,215 seven days ago. That means it is a running total and includes people who have been released or died.
The number is 3,547 in Palm Beach County, with an increase of 18 compared with 8 the day before; 385 in Martin, which didn't change; 637 in St. Lucie with an increase of 3, Indian River decreased by 4 to 290 and Okeechobee went from 160 to 161.
Long-term care
Forty-one percent of the deaths, 5,442 are residents and staff of long-term care, including 554 in Palm Beach County, which is second most in the state behind 775 in Miami-Dade. The state increase was 16 and in Palm Beach County it went up by 1.
National
Since the first death was reported six months ago on Feb. 29, the toll has risen to 199,258 a gain of 658, according to Johns Hopkins. Worldometers reported a gain of 657 to 203,824.
Cases reached 6,764,803 with an increase of 49,522. They have exceeded 70,000 seven times, including a record 78,446 on July 24 and the last time was July 31.
Last Saturday in the U.S., there were 1,213 more deaths and 47,552 cases.
The one week U.S. death increase was 5,565 at 2.9 percent.
New York has the most deaths in the nation at 33,081 with a decrease of 4 reported Saturday, after a high of 799 in April.
Among other states in the top 10 for deaths: No. 3 New Jersey 5, No. 6 Massachusetts 26, No. 7 Illinois 25, No. 8 Pennsylvania 22, No. 9 Michigan 14, No. 10 Georgia 62.
Also, No. 11 Arizona reported 16 deaths, as well as an additional 609 cases. No. 23 Washington, the original epicenter in the United States, reported no deaths.
Worldwide
The U.S. represented 12.8 percent of the 5,142 additional deaths Saturday and 21.2 percent of the world total though its population is only 4.3 percent of the global total. The one week world death increase was 36,597 at 4.0 percent.
Last Saturday's death increase was 5,028.
Cases increased by 2,91,160 after a record 315,101 Friday, according to Worldometers.info.
Brazil, which is second behind the United States for deaths, reported 708 deaths to rise to 136,565. Brazil's record is 1,554 on July 29. The nation added 30,913 cases at 4,528,347 in third place.
India reported 93,337 cases after a world-record 97,894 two days before to rise to 5,308,015 which is second in world behind U.S. India also recorded a world-high 12,47 deaths, three days after a national-record 1,299, to rise to 85,619 and in third place.
Mexico announced 455 more deaths late Saturday compared with a high of 1,092 on June 4 for a total of 73,258 in fourth place.
Four European nations are in the top 10 as cases are surging on the continent. The United Kingdom reported 25 additional deaths for 41,759 in fifth place with the record daily high 1,172, as well as 4,322 cases, one day after 4,222 the day before, which was 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 24 deaths. No. 8 France announced 50 deaths, as well as a record 13,498 cases one day after 13,215 No. 9 Spain reported no data.
No. 7 Peru had 86 deaths and was 95 ahead of France. No. 10 Iran reported 166 deaths.
Russia is in fourth place in the world in cases with 1,097,251, including an additional 6,065. The nation gained 144 deaths and is in 12th.
No. 20 Canada reported 6 deaths for a total of 9,211 and 863 cases.
Sweden, which has been doing "herd immunity" with no lockdown, reported no data. Neighboring Norway reported no deaths to rise to 267, as well as 51 more cases.
No. 30 China, the original epicenter of the world, hasn’t reported a death since April 26, and added 10 cases Sunday.