WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Coronavirus deaths in Florida climbed by 36 in the past day to 2,566, including an increase of 8 in Palm Beach County to 359 -- lower numbers than the previous day -- as cases skyrocketed, the Florida Department of Health announced Wednesday morning.
New cases statewide more than doubled -- from 617 to 1,317 -- the highest one-day total since April for a total of 58,764, including an increase of 258 in Palm Beach County after a rise of 84 Tuesday. The previous county high was 224 last Friday, when state cases spiked by 1,212.
The 70 fatalities announced Tuesday were among the highest since the first case was reported in the state on March 1. The record is 83 on Tuesday, April 28. Twice, the increase was 72 -- once in April and once last month. In Palm Beach County the rise was 14 Tuesday and the most was 17 on April 28 and May 21.
In the Treasure Coast area, no additional deaths were reported. St. Lucie County remained at 31, followed by Martin and Indian River at 10, and Okeechobee none.
Over seven days, state deaths increased by 247 for 10.7 percent and by 39 for 12.2 percent in Palm Beach County.
Miami-Dade County has the most deaths in the state, rising by 9 to 731. Broward increased by 1 to 318, which is 41 behind Palm Beach County. Lee is in fourth place with 113, an increase of 1.
Eighteen of the 36 additional deaths are linked to South Florida, which accounts for 1,469 deaths for 57.2 percent of the state total though the population comprises 30 percent.
The Treasure Coast area reported 58 more cases -- 29 in Martin, 16 in St. Lucie, 1 in Indian River and 12 in Okeechobee.
The state positive test rate decreased from 5.5 percent to 5.4 with the rate more than 10 percent for several weeks. The most recent positive daily rate was 3.0 percent compared with 6.6 percent Tuesday.
In all, there were 31,154 tests compared with 9,353 additional tests announced Tuesday..
Total tests reached 1,081,825 with 1,022149 negative results and the remaining 912 inconclusive or not reported.
The mortality rate involving positive cases is 4.4 percent in the state compared with 5.7 percent in the United States and 5.9 percent worldwide, which neared 387,000 deaths and passed 6.5 million cases Wednesday. Palm Beach County's rate was 5.5 percent, compared with Broward at 4.3 percent and Miami-Dade with 4.0 percent. With much fewer deaths, the mortality rate is 6.1 percent in St. Lucie, 7.2 percent in Indian River and 1.4 percent in Martin.
The youngest and oldest ever in the state were reported Thursday. A 23-year-old woman from Miami-Dade County surpasses a 26-year-old man from Miami-Dade. On Tuesday, a 26-year-old man from Miami-Dade was reported. A total of 15 people from 25 to 34 have died from the virus. A 104-year-old woman is 1 year older than the previous oldest, one woman each from Miami-Dade and Escambia. A total of 892 people 85 and older have died in the state.
Ninety-four percent of the fatalities are 55 and older and 64 percent 75 and older. A smaller percentage of older people have tested positive -- 40 percent 55 and older and 13 percent 75 and older. At the other end of the age spectrum, there are 480 cases of infants to 4 years old and 1,068 from 5 to 14.
The eight new deaths reported in Palm Beach County include five men and three woman, ranging from 30 to 91. The death of a 30-year-woman ties a man that age reported earlier. The oldest ever in the county is a 102-year-old female.
Palm Beach County's death count is higher than 17 states, including Oklahoma with 341.
The county's total number of confirmed cases range from newborn to 104.
West Palm Beach is in first place in Palm Beach County in cases with 1,280, breaking a tie with Lake Worth Beach, which now has 1,266. Boca Raton follows with 651, Boynton Beach with 648, Delray Beach with 513 and Belle Glade with 415. The most cases on the Treasure Coast are in Port St. Lucie with 338.
Palm Beach County has 6,477 cases out of 80,660 total tested for 8.0 percent, not including those awaiting tests and inconclusive. Anything above 10.0 percent is considered out of "target range" by the health department.
Miami-Dade leads with 18,456 positive cases out of 188,653 tested for 9.8 percent, and Broward is second with 7,339 cases and 112,693 tested for 6.5 percentage.
In St. Lucie, it's 508 positive out of 11,790 for 4.3 percent, Martin with 729 of 8,022 for 8.3 percent, Indian River with 139 out of 6,091 for 2.3 percent and Okeechobee with 97 out of 1,867 for 5.3 percent.
On Wednesday, two girls, 2 and 4, were reported as confirmed cases in Okeechobee. On Saturday, a 2-year-old girl was reported to have tested positive in St. Lucie following a 3-year-old as the youngest. Last week, Indian River reported the youngest person testing positive, a 5-year-old boy. Martin has reported six less than one year old -- 3 boys and 3 girls.
A total of 10,525 people in the state have been hospitalized at one time, which is 113 more than the day before. That means it is a running total and includes people who have been released or died. Including nonresidents, the number is 1,237 in Palm Beach County, which is an increase of 14 in one day, followed by 110 in St. Lucie, 85 in Martin, 36 in Indian River and 11 in Okeechobee.
Florida, which is third-most populous state, is 11th in the nation for total deaths behind Maryland, which has reported 75more deaths than Florida, including 44 Wednesday, according to Worldometers.info. Florida has 120 deaths per 1 million people compared with the U.S. average of 330 per million. New York, which represents 30 percent of the deaths in the nation, has 1,546 per million. Worldwide, the figure is 49.6 per million.
National data
The death toll has passed 100,000. Worldometers lists the total at 109,142 with 1,083 additional deaths after 1,134 Tuesday. Johns Hopkins reports 107,099.
Cases hit 1,901,783 with 20,578 additional ones. Last Wednesday, there were 1,535 additional deaths and 19,790 more cases.
The one week U.S. death increase is 6.9 percent with a gain of 7,035.
New Jersey was the only state to report a triple-digit increase, 123, for second place place with 11,906.
Illinois was the next highest with 96 for sixth place. New York, which reported a record 799 deaths two months ago, had the third-most deaths, 86, for a total of 30,164 in first place.
The remaining top 10 states: No. 3 Massachusetts with 67, No. 4 Pennsylvania with 77, No. 5 Michigan with 17, No. 7 California with 61, No. 8 Connecticut with 17, No. 9 Louisiana with 36.
Georgia is in 14th place with an increase of 21. No. 18 Washington, which was the original epicenter in the United States, is in 18th with an increase of 6.
One week ago Wednesday in the United States, there were 102,107 deaths, two weeks ago there were94,936, three weeks ago 85,540, four weeks ago 74,799, five weeks ago 61,655, six weeks ago 47,894, seven weeks ago 32,712, eight weeks ago 17,691, nine weeks ago 6,394, 10 weeks ago 1,260, 11 weeks ago 171, 12 weeks ago 38, 9 weeks ago 11, 14 weeks ago 0.
Worldwide
The U.S. represented 22.0 percent of the 4,929 additional deaths through Wednesday night GMT and 28.2 percent of the world total though its population is only 4.3 percent of the global total. On Tuesday, the increased deaths were 4,669.
The one week world death increase is 8.3 percent with a gain of 29,505.
Two Latin American nations reported the top two most deaths Wednesday night and set national records -- Brazil with 1,269 and Mexico with 1,092.
On Tuesday, Brazil broke also broke the record for the most deaths with 1,232, also the most in the world. Brazil has surged from sixth place to fourth, passing Spain and France. In 14 days, Brazil has climbed from 18,894 to 32,547. One week ago, the toll was 25,697. Brazil also reported 27,312 cases -- less than the record of 30,102 Saturday -- for second place behind the United States with 556,668.
Mexico has moved into seventh place, passing Germany on Saturday and Belgium on Sunday, then another 470 deaths Monday. The nation has risen from 6,090 to 11,729 in two weeks.
The six European nations in the top 10 – United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, France, Germany -- reported a total of new 554 Wednesday after 561 Tuesday. Often, one nation recorded those numbers in one day.
United Kingdom had nearly two-thirds of them -- 359 -- after 324 Tuesday. Britain, which is second behind the United States, has a total of 39,369. The record was 1,172 on April 21.
Italy, which at one time was the epicenter of the world, is in third place at 33,601, gaining 71. One Sunday ago there were 59 – the lowest since 36 on March 7. The high of 919 was on March 27 at 32,007.
France reported 81 more deaths after 107 deaths Tuesday, far lower than the record of 1,438 on April 15. Spain, which has been adjusting its totals because of duplicates, reported 1 new death for a total of 27,128.
Other nations in the top 10 reporting less than 100 deaths are No. 8 Belgium with 70, No. 9 Germany with25, No. 10 Iran with 70.
Canada added 103 deaths after 69 Tuesday for 11th place.
No. 16 China, the original epicenter, reported zero new deaths Thursday – the last one reported was April 26 -- and 1 case.
Sweden, which has been doing "herd immunity," reported 74 more deaths with 4,542 as well as 2,214 new cases after 775 Tuesday and the previous record of 812 on April 24. Neighboring Norway reported 0 deaths -- for the second day in a row -- for a total of 237 as well as 22 more cases.
Russia continues to surge in cases with 8,536 for a total of 432,277 in third place. Russia reported 178 more deaths to rise to 5,215 in 14th place.