WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The coronavirus death toll rose by 48 to 1,827 in the state and Palm Beach County reported nine fatalities to rise 254 though new cases declined significantly statewide and in the county, the Florida Department of Health announced Wednesday morning.
On Tuesday, the number of deaths climbed by 44 in Florida and by seven in Palm Beach County. Last Tuesday, the toll rose by 72 in Florida and two weeks earlier it was a record 83 in Florida.
New cases statewide decreased dramatically from 941 to 479. In Palm Beach County, the cases rose by 83 compared with 204 Tuesday, 28 Monday and 72 Sunday. Meanwhile, Miami-Dade also increased by 83 and Broward by 25 as the Treasure Coast area added 7.
The positive test rate dropped 1 percentage point to 7.1 percent after 8.3 percent a week ago and more than 10 percent for several weeks. The most recent positive daily rate was 3.2 percent compared with 5.1 percent the day before.
A total of 595,478 have been tested, an increase of 15,162 on one day, with 552,361 negative results and the remaining 3,117 inconclusive or not reported.
The Treasure Coast area didn't report any additional deaths: St. Lucie remained at 26, Indian River at 9, Martin at 6 and Okeechobee none. Martin hasn't announced a death in 13 days.
Miami-Dade County has the most deaths in the state, increasing by 13 to 518 in one day. Broward County increased by 9 to 267 in second place. Manatee is in fourth place with 75 an increase of 1.
Thirty-one of the 48 additional deaths are linked to South Florida, which accounts for 1,080 death for 59.1 percent of the state total though the population comprises 30 percent.
The mortality rate involving positive cases is 4.2 percent in the state compared with 6.0 percent in the United States and 6.7 percent worldwide, which passed 297,000 deaths and 4.4 million cases Tuesday. Palm Beach County's rate was 6.0 percent, compared with Broward at 4.3 percent and Miami-Dade with 3.5 percent. With much fewer deaths, the mortality rate is 9.0 percent in St. Lucie, 8.8 percent in Indian River and 2.2 percent in Martin.
The deaths in the state range from a 26-year-old man in Miami-Dade to a 103-year-old women in Miami-Dade. Ninety-four percent of the fatalities are 55 and older and 61 percent 75 and older in state data through Tuesday. A smaller percentage of older people have tested positive -- 42 percent 55 and older and 13 percent 75 and older. At the other end of the age spectrum, there are 243 cases of infants to 4 years old and 520 from 4-14 among the 42,402 testing positive.
Palm Beach County's death count is higher than 18 states.
The deaths confirmed Wednesday include three women in their 90s -- 94, 98 and 99, with the latter two the oldest in the county. The youngest death confirmed Wednesday was 75. A 30-year-old man is the youngest ever in the county.
Palm Beach County's total number of confirmed cases range from newborn to 104.
West Palm Beach leads Palm Beach County with 795 cases, followed by Lake Worth Beach with 704, Boca Raton with 536, Boynton Beach with 464 and Delray Beach with 396. The most cases on the Treasure Coast are in Port St. Lucie with 204.
Palm Beach County has 4,176 cases out of 46,012 total tested, including 91 awaiting results, for 9.1 percent, not including those awaiting tests and inconclusive.
Miami-Dade leads with 14,468 positive cases out of 117,732 tested for 12.3 percent, and Broward is second with 5,998 cases and 69,672 tested for 8.6 percentage.
On the Treasure Coast area, Martin County reported 1 more case, St. Lucie up 9, Indian River stayed the same and Okeechobee County decreased by 3. Sometimes, the state makes changes because counties are misreported originally.
In St. Lucie, it's 299 positive out of 5,574 for 5.4 percent, Martin with 275 of 2,738 for 10.0 percent, Indian River with 102 out of 2,456 for 4.2 percent and Okeechobee with 25 out of 996 for 2.5 percent.
A total of 7,5,95 people in the state have been hospitalized at one time, which is 177 more than the day before. That means it is a running total and includes people who have been released or died. The number is 720 in Palm Beach County, 80 in St. Lucie, 50 in Martin, 28 in Indian River and 6 in Okeechobee.
Florida ranks 10th in the nation in total deaths, according to Wednesday tracking by Worldometers.info.Florida was 552 behind No. 9 Louisiana, which had 34 more fatalities Wednesday.
Florida has reported 85 deaths per 1 million people compared with the U.S. average of 257 per million. New York, which represents one-third of the deaths in the nation with more than 27,285, has 1,403 per million. Worldwide, the figure is 38.2 per million.
National data
A total of 85,197 people, an increase of 1,772, have died from the virus in the United States in information reported Wednesday. The increase was 1,630 Tuesday.
Pennsylvania reported the most deaths in the nation Wednesday, 229, compared with 77 Tuesday, for sixth place at 4,147.
Illinois announced a record 191 deaths, second in the nation, to rise to 3,792 in fifth place.
No. 1 New York announced an additional 166 deaths after 195 the day before. A few weeks ago, nearly 800 deaths were reported in one day in the state.
Neighboring New Jersey reported 186 more deaths after 200 on Tuesday for second place with 9,727.
The only other state reporting triple-digit increases was No. 3 Massachusetts with 174 for 5,315. Reporting less than 100 new deaths were No. 4 Michigan with 40, No. 7 Connecticut with 84 and No. 8 California with 90.
Georgia, which opened nonessential businesses more than one week ago, is in 13th place with 1,505, an increase of 23 after 50 Tuesday. No. 17 Washington, which was the original epicenter in the United States, reported 11 more deaths Wednesday.
One week ago Wednesday in the United States, there were 74,799, two weeks ago there were 61,655, three weeks ago 47,894, four weeks ago 32,712, five weeks ago 17,692, six weeks ago 6,394, seven weeks ago 1,260, eight weeks ago 171, nine weeks ago 38, 11 weeks ago 9, 11 weeks ago 0.
Worldwide
The U.S. represented 31.8 percent of the additional deaths and 28.6 percent of the world total though its population is only 4.3 percent of the global total.
The United States, United Kingdom and Brazil were three nations in the top 10 for total deaths reporting increases of 200 or more.
The death toll continues to skyrocket in Brazil with an additional 754 deaths -- second in the world behind the United States -- after 775 announced Tuesday and a record 804 Friday. Brazil has climbed from 8,588 to 13,158 deaths in one week for sixth place, about half as many as No. 5 France, which added 83.
The United Kingdom, which overtook Italy for second place in the world last week, reported an additional 494 after 627 Tuesday and a record 1,172 on April 4. The kingdom has announced 33,186 deaths, which is 2,080 more than Italy -- at one time an epicenter of the virus.
Italy gained 195 after 172 Tuesday and a high of 919 on March 27. Spain moved back into fourth place ahead of France with 184 more, compared with 348 Tuesday and significantly less than the high of 1,438 on April 15.
No. 8 Germany's new deaths rose from 77 to 121. Nations in the top 10 reporting additional deaths in double figures are No. 7 Belgium with 82, No. 9 Iran with 50 and No. 10 Netherlands with 52.
China, the original epicenter, reported zero new deaths Thursday – the last death reported was April 26 – for 12th place behind Canada, which reported 132 deaths to move to 5,301.
Mexico had the third-most additional deaths, 353, to rise to 3,926 in 14th place.
Sweden, which has been doing "herd immunity," reported 147 more deaths Wednesday after 57 Tuesday to rise to 3,460 in 15th place. Neighboring Norway reported 1 more death to move to 229 and 18 cases.
Cases are around 4.4 million as Russia continues to skyrocket with 10,028 more Tuesday for a total of 242,271 in second place behind the United States with 1.4 million, including an additional 19,103.
Russia reported 96 more deaths to rise to 2,212 in 18th.
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