NewsLocal NewsCoronavirus

Actions

State's newly reported deaths surge to 145; cases increase by 3,116

First-time positivity rate rises to 4.22% each in state, Palm Beach County
wptv-coronavirus-florida.jpg
Posted at 1:46 PM, Sep 15, 2020
and last updated 2020-09-15 22:56:22-04

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida's newly reported coronavirus deaths spiked to a US.-high 145, one day after 34, and cases nearly doubled to 3,116 as positivity rates also rose, the Florida Health Department announced Tuesday. Increased deaths and cases are traditionally higher after weekend data.

After the first two deaths were announced on March 6, the death toll has climbed to 12,787 among residents, with an average of 66 per day, and 12,946 including 159 nonresidents, which went up by 1 to 159.

The state's daily positive rate for all tests increased to 5.59 percent on 68,958 tests received from labs Monday after a two-week low of 5.18 percent on 50,969 tests. The two-week high was 8.53 percent on Sept. 2. The record test total was 142,964 July 11.

The state's first-time positivity rate increased from a two-week low of 3.86 to 4.22 percent, one of seven days under 5 percent over 14 days. In Palm Beach County, the rate also climbed to 4.22 percent from a two-week low of 2.92, one of eight under 4 percent, and a two-week high was 5.78 last Tuesday.

Palm Beach County reported 17 new deaths for a total of 1,2169, third highest in the state behind Miami-Dade and Broward, after 3 were reported Monday. On the Treasure Coast, St. Lucie remained at 256 but Martin rose by 2 to 129 and Indian River up by 1 to 107. Okeechobee still has 21 with its first two deaths on July 25.

Broward increased by 4 and Miami-Dade by 29.

In South Florida, there were 53 of the 145 deaths, 36.6 percent for a total of 5,940 at 46.5 percent though the population only comprises 30 percent.

For three days in a row, the state's death increase was less than three digits. They rose by 98 on Saturday, by 8 on Sunday, which was the lowest since 7 on June 15, and 34 Monday.

On Tuesday, one day after Labor Day, the death increase was 44 after trending lower for four days.

The last time deaths hit 200 was Wednesday. The previous 200-plus day was Aug. 18. The state record was 276 on Aug. 11.

Cases in Florida also have been trending down the past three months.

Monday's 1,736 cases were 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 166 after 114 the day before and 100 last week.

Florida's new hospitalizations rose by 280 compared with 377 the day before. The state reported Tuesday there are currently 2,576 hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, which is 61 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 132 deaths Tuesday after a state-record 324 on Aug. 11, for a total of 14,343. California reported 66 new deaths and is in third place overall with 14,451, just 108 ahead of Texas.

It took 49 days for Florida's death toll 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.

State and county increases represent fatalities received by the state Monday 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: 99 on Aug. 19.

In a state report Tuesday, 150 deaths were added from the last day's report but 5 were removed after determining they weren't related to COVID-19.

Deaths rose by 872 in the state over seven days (a daily average of 125) for 7.3 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 46 for 3.9 percent. The U.S. figure is 3.2 percent with the world at 4.1 percent.

Miami-Dade rose to 2,923, which is 257 more in one week. Broward increased to 1,288 with a rise of 54 in one week. St. Lucie has risen by 10 deaths in one week compared with Martin by 9, Indian River by 3 and Okeechobee by 1.

Palm Beach County's death count is higher than 21 states, including Rhode Island's 1,078 with an additional 3 deaths.

Pinellas rose by 9 to 7101 deaths in fourth place and Hillsborough increased by 6 to to 591 in fifth place. Polk went up by 6 to 494 in sixth and Lee rose by 3 to 451.

The state identified 18 deaths in Palm Beach County though the increase was 17 in a day with 9 men (45, 58, 63, 66, 76, 78, 85, 86, 92) and 9 women (57, 66, 72, 79, 81, 86, 91, 96, 100). Martin's deaths were two men (85, 93) and Indian River's addition was a 61-year-old woman.

Cases

Since the first two cases were announced on March 1, Florida's total has surged to 3.1 percent of the state's 21.48 million population with 668,846, second in the nation. The average over six months is 3,378 per day.

In one week, cases have risen by 18,754, which average 2,479 per day, at 2.9 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 760,013 with the addition of 2,235. Texas had a U.S. high 4,816 and is third overall with 668,746, just 100 behind Florida. New York, which was the leader during much of the pandemic, is in fourth at 445,714 with 766 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 44,305, including residents and nonresidents.

Miami-Dade's cases were 389 compared with 213 and Broward's increase was 164 vs. 191. In the Treasure Coast area, the rise over one day was 2 in Martin, 61 in St. Lucie, 10 in Indian River, 6 in Okeechobee.

Testing

Florida's total number of people tested is 4,975,926, fourth in the nation, behind No. 1 New York, No. 2 California and No. 3 Texas. That Florida figure is 23.2 percent of Florida's population.

The overall positive rate dropped to 13.44 percent from 13.45 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 five days in a row, most recently 4.95 after a two-week low of 4.10, with the two-week high 7.28 on Sept. 2. The rate hit 26.4 on July 8. Broward's rate was 4.05 after the days under 3 percent, two-week low of 2.39, then 2.77, 2.52, and a high of 4.37 twice on Sept. 1 and 2.

Elsewhere, St. Lucie's rate spiked to a two-week high of 7.12 percent after 3.23 percent and a two-week low of 2.39 two days ago with a high of 6.95 last Tuesday. Martin's rate was 7.31 percent after 4.27 and previously a two-week low of 1.95 percent and a high of 9.68 last Tuesday. Indian River's rate was a two-week high of 4.59 percent after 2.23 percent, a two-week low of 1.65 on Sept. 5, which was among 5 days near 2 percent and below. Okeechobee's rate was 12.0 percent on 44 tests after 4.17 percent on 46 tests, a two-week high of 13.16 on 99 tests two days ago, a low of 1.92 on 153 negative tests on Sept. 3.

Palm Beach County has 44,305 cases out of 346,529 total tested for 12.79 percent overall, not including those awaiting tests and inconclusive.

Miami-Dade leads with 164,688 positive cases out of 865,760 tested for 19.05 percent, and Broward is second with 74,689 cases and 538,320 tested for 13.87 percentage.

In Martin County, it's 4,607 of 33,017 for 13.95 percent. In St. Lucie, it's 7,633 out of 56,885 for 13.42 percent, Indian River with 3,000 of 33,318 for 9.0 percent and Okeechobee 1,341 of 10,420 for 12.87 percent.

Mortality rate

The mortality rate compares positive cases against deaths.

The state's rate is 1.9 percent for all deaths and cases, including nonresidents, compared with 3.0 percent in the United States and 3.2 percent worldwide, which passed 938,000 deaths and passed 29.7 million cases Tuesday, according to Worldometers.info.

Palm Beach County's rate was 2.8 percent, compared with Broward at 1.7 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 595 deaths per 1 million people compared with the U.S. average of 605 per million. New York, which represents 16.9 percent of the deaths in the nation, has 1,704 per million. Worldwide, the figure is 120.4 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 increased with the death of a 24-year-old man in Volusia.

Eighty-four people from 25 to 34 also have died from the virus, which increased by 1.

A total of 4,148 people 85 and older have died in the state from the virus, an increase of 44 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 11,312 cases of infants to 4 years old, an increase of 63, and 265 were hospitalized, with an increase of 6. From ages 5-14, there are 27,789 an increase of 126 with 237 in the hospital at one time, with 2 addition.

From the infant to 54 age group, 475,837 of the 660,946 residents' cases. In that group, 863 have died, with an increase of 10, for a 0.18 death percentage. From infant to 64, there are 561,968 cases. A total of 2,249 have died, an increase of 29, for a 0.40 percentage.

Cities

West Palm Beach is in first place among Palm Beach County cities with 10,941, with an increase of 34. Lake Worth, which includes the city and county portion, rose by 17 to 7,623, followed by Boca Raton at 6,255, up from 6,212, Boynton Beach at 3,927 from 3906 and Delray Beach at 3,026 vs. 3,011. A total of 1,002 in the county not designated by a city.

Port St. Lucie leads the Treasure Coast with 4,485, an increase of 44 followed by Fort Pierce at 2,703, up 7, and Stuart with 2,151, which was an increase of 20.

In Indian River County, Fellsmere, which has a population of 5,754, remained at 399 compared with only 3 on May 31.

Hospitalizations

A total of 41,654 people in the state have been hospitalized, a rise from 40,195 seven days ago. That means it is a running total and includes people who have been released or died.

The number is 3,505 in Palm Beach County, with an increase of 13 compared with none the day before; 384 in Martin, which didn't change; 621 in St. Lucie with an increase of 4, Indian River went up by 2 to 281 and Okeechobee rose from 156 to 158.

Long-term care

Forty-one percent of the deaths, 5,266 are residents and staff of long-term care, including 525 in Palm Beach County, which is second most in the state behind 763 in Miami-Dade. The state increase was 69 and in Palm Beach County it went up by 5.

National

Since the first death was reported six months ago on Feb. 29, the toll has risen to 195,735, a gain of 1,242, according to Johns Hopkins. Worldometers reported a gain of 1,197 to 200,197.

Cases reached 6,603,921 with an increase of 50,522. They have exceeded 70,000 seven times, including a record 78,446 on July 24 and the last time was July 31.

Last Tuesday in the U.S., there were 445 more deaths and 26,387 cases.

The one week U.S. death increase was 6,082 at 3.2 percent.

New York has the most deaths in the nation at 33,038 with 11 reported Tuesday, after a high of 799 in April.

Among other states in the top 10 for deaths: No. 2 New Jersey 8, No. 6 Massachusetts 6, No. 7 Illinois 18, No. 8 Pennsylvania 5, No. 9 Michigan 11, No. 10 Georgia 45.

Virginia, because of a backlog of data, reported the most-ever deaths, 96, and is in 19th with 2,839, and Ohio's 82 additional deaths were the most since April and is at 4,506 in 13th.

Also, No. 11 Arizona reported 22 deaths, as well as an additional 484 cases. No. 23 Washington, the original epicenter in the United States, reported 9 deaths.

Worldwide

The U.S. represented 20.0 percent of the 6,000 additional deaths Tuesday 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 36,818 at 4.1 percent.

Last Tuesday's death increase was 4,374.

Cases increased by 242,856 after a record 310,692 Friday, according to Worldometers.info.

Brazil, which is second behind the United States for deaths, reported 1,090 deaths to rise to 133,207. Brazil's record is 1,554 on July 29. The nation added 34,755 cases at 4,384,299 in third place.

India reported 83,809 cases, after five days more than 90,000, including a record 97,570, to rise to 4,930,237 which is second in world behind U.S. India also recorded a world-high 1,054 deaths, behind the record 1,209 three days ago, to rise to 80,776 and in third place.

Mexico announced 629 more deaths late Tuesday compared with a high of 1,092 on June 4 for a total of 71,678 in fourth place.

Four European nations are in the top 10. The United Kingdom reported 27 additional deaths for 41,663 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 9 deaths. No. 7 France announced 49 and No. 9 Spain 156 as well as 9,437 cases with the record 10,858 on March 10.

No. 8 Peru gained 115 deaths and No. 10 Iran had 140.

Russia is in fourth place in the world in cases with 1,073,849 including an additional 5,529. The nation gained 150 deaths and is in 12th.

No. 19 Canada reported 9 deaths for a total of 9,188 and 793 cases.

Sweden, which has been doing "herd immunity," reported 4 deaths has 5,851 total. Neighboring Norway reported no deaths for the fourth day in a row to remain at 265, as well as 117 more cases.

No. 28 China, the original epicenter of the world, hasn’t reported a death since April 26, and added `12 cases Wednesday.

Japan added 8 deaths for a total of 1,469 and 269 cases, the lowest since 228 on July 15.