WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida's additional deaths declined from 172 to a U.S.-high 129 in one day but new cases increased from 1,948 to 2,628. Also, the first-time daily positivity rate is back below 5 percent but Palm Beach County has returned to the 4 percent range, the Department of Health announced Thursday.
In a state report Thursday, 32 fatalities were removed from the total list after determining they weren't related to COVID-19 so the net increase was lower. On Wednesday, the health department said the state dashboard incorrectly added 2 deaths to the state total, including 1 in Palm Beach County and 1 in Miami-Dade. State health press secretary Nina Levine told WPTV the state increase is 129 though it's not being reflected properly in the state report.
Florida's first-time daily infection rate of all tested was 4.65 percent from 5.01 the day before, a two-week low of 4.03 four days ago and a high of 5.85 on Sept. 21, which is among 3 days above 5 percent over two weeks. Palm Beach County's rate increased to 4.26 percent from 3.10, compared with 2.13 percent three days ago that was among the lowest in several months. The high of 6.81 on Sept. 21 was the only time it was above 5 percent over 14 days.
The state's total daily positivity rate for all tests declined to 5.98 percent on 65,474 tests reported by labs to the state Wednesday from 6.35 on 44,810 the day before. The two-week low was 5.33 percent on Sept. 17 and the high was 7.54 on Sept. 21. Only 20,988 tests were reported three days ago and the record test total was 142,964 July 11. In Palm Beach County there were 165 residents positive on 3,876 total tested.
For two days the number of deaths in the state increased, including from Monday's 5, which tied for the lowest on May 31 over nearly four months, to 106 Tuesday. On Sunday, 10 fatalities were reported when weekend data is traditionally low. Last Thursday increase was 164. The record was 276 deaths on Aug. 11.
On Monday, the 738 cases were fewest since June 2 when there were 617 additional infections. Then, they increased to 3,266 Tuesday and under 2,000 Wednesday.
Last Thursday's new cases were 2,628. The last time there were fewer than 2,000 not from weekend data was 1,823 on Sept. 8.
Florida's total of 709,144 cases is 9.8 percent of the total infection in the U.S. though the state only comprises 6.5 percent of the population.
On Sunday, cases passed 700,000 after surpassing 600,000 more than one month ago, Aug. 23.
Before Tuesday, the previous times there were more than 3,000 cases was 3,573 Saturday, Sept. 19. The last time cases were more than 4,000 was 4,684 on Aug. 22.
Since the first two deaths were announced on March 6, which is 209 days, the death toll has climbed to 14,444 among residents, with an average of 69 per day, and 14,619 including 175 nonresidents, which rose by 4.
It took nine days for the toll to pass from 13,000 to 14,000. It was eight days to pass 12,000 on Sept.9.
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. More than two months ago, July 20, there were 5,075 deaths.
Palm Beach County's death toll increased by 15 to 1,368, third highest in the state behind Miami-Dade and Broward, after 18 on Wednesday. On the Treasure Coast, St. Lucie rose by 8 to 291, Martin remained at 143 and Indian River went up by 1 to 120. Okeechobee increased by 1 to 28 deaths with its first two fatalities on July 25.
Broward rose by 10 and Miami-Dade by 5.
With an increase of 40 deaths in South Florida, or 30.0 percent of the 127 state total, there are 6,657, which is 46.1 percent of the state figure though the population only comprises 30 percent.
Cases in Florida are much lower than three months ago.
Palm Beach County's daily cases increased by 146 after 67 the day.
Florida's new hospitalizations rose by 312 compared with 253 the day before. The state reported Thursday there are currently 2,080 hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, which is 5 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 112 deaths Thursday after a state-record 324 on Aug. 11, for a total of 15,823. California reported 96 and is in third place overall with 15,888, just 65 ahead of Texas.
State and county increases represent fatalities received by the state Wednesday 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: 85 on Sept. 1.
Deaths rose by 649 in the state over seven days (a daily average of 93) for 4.7 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 53 for 4.0 percent. The U.S. figure is 2.4 percent with the world at 4.0 percent.
Miami-Dade increased to 3,284 with 121 more in one week. Broward is at 1,406 with a rise 48 in one week. St. Lucie has risen by 17 deaths in one week compared with Martin by 4, Indian River by 5 and Okeechobee by 4.
Palm Beach County's death count is higher than 22 states, including Iowa's 1,360 after adding 14.
Pinellas increased by 2 to 755 deaths in fourth place and Hillsborough by 8 to 654 in fifth place. Polk remained at 531 in sixth and Lee went up by 9 to 477.
The state identified 21 new deaths in the Palm Beach County though the increase was 15 of 14 men (50, 73, 73, 75, 78, 79, 81, 82, 85, 85, 85, 88, 89, 92) and 7 women (74 83, 85, 86, 91, 92, 92) St. Lucie's new deaths were 9 but the increase was 8 of 5 women (59, 76, 79, 80, 88). Indian River added an 88-year-old woman and Okeechobee a 78-year-old woman.
Cases
Since the first two cases were announced on March 1, Florida's total has surged to 3.3 percent of the state's 21.48 million population with 709,144, third in the nation. The average over 214 days is 3,314 per day.
In one week, cases have risen by 16,104, which averages 2,301 per day, at 2.3 percent.
California has the most cases in the U.S. at 813,687 with the addition of 3,062. Texas had a U.S.-high 3,234 and is second overall with 754,501. New York, which was the leader during much of the pandemic, is in fourth at 460,031 with an additional 1,382, the highest since1,551 on May 29.
Florida's daily case increases have been below 10,000 since July 26 when they climbed by 12,199.
The record for most cases was 15,300 cases, which was the highest 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 46,698, including residents and nonresidents.
Miami-Dade's cases were 482 compared with 314 the day before and Broward's increase was 213 vs. 198. In the Treasure Coast area, the rise over one day was 15 in Martin, 29 in St. Lucie, 25 in Indian River, 1 in Okeechobee.
Testing
Florida's total number of people tested is 5,333,017 which is 24.8 percent of the state's population behind No. 1 California, No. 2 New York, No. 3 Texas and No. 4 Illinois.
The overall Florida positive rate dropped to 13.3 from 13.31.
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 increased to 5.43 percent from 4.84, a two-week high of 6.83 two days earlier and a two-week low of 2.73 three days ago. The rate hit 26.4 on July 8. Broward's rate was 4.16 percent after 2.56, a two-week low of 1.75 three days ago and a high of 4.95 on Sept. 22. Only twice in two weeks have figures been 4 percent and above.
Elsewhere, St. Lucie's rate decreased to 5.15 percent from a two-week high of 7.07 and a two-week low of 2.48 four days ago. Martin's rate was 2.23 percent after 3.63, a two-week low of 1.85 Saturday and a high of 9.89 on Sept. 18. Indian River's rate was 6.50 from 4.05 percent, a two-week high of 7.24 percent four days ago and a two-week low of 3.48 on Sept. 18. Okeechobee's rate was a two-week low of 2.52 on 136 negative tests after 15.28 on 61 negative tests, a two-week high of 34.33 percent on 44 tests Sept. 21.
Palm Beach County has 46,698 cases out of 370,700 total tested for 12.6 percent overall, not including those awaiting tests and inconclusive.
Miami-Dade leads with 170,882 positive cases out of 922,532 tested for 18.52 percent, and Broward is second with 77,433 cases and 572,213 tested for 13.53 percentage.
In Martin County, it's 4,942 of 36,687 for 13.47 percent. In St. Lucie, it's 8,120 out of 62,481 for 13.0 percent, Indian River with 3,279 of 36,497 for 8.98 percent and Okeechobee 1,576 of 11,195 for 14.08 percent.
Mortality rate
The mortality rate compares positive cases against deaths.
The state's rate was 2.1 percent for all deaths and cases, including nonresidents, compared with 2.9 percent in the United States and 3.0 percent worldwide, which passed 1,027,000 million deaths Thursday and passed 34.4 million cases, according to Worldometers.info.
Palm Beach County's rate is 3.0 percent, compared with Broward at 1.8 percent and Miami-Dade with 1.9 percent. With much fewer deaths, the mortality rate is 3.6 percent in St. Lucie, 2.9 percent in Martin, 3.7 percent in Indian River and 1.8 percent in Okeechobee.
Florida has 673 deaths per 1 million people compared with the U.S. average of 639 per million. New York, which represents 16.0 percent of the deaths in the nation, has 1,709 per million. Worldwide, the figure is 130.7 per million.
Age breakdown
The median age for all deaths in Florida is 79.
Five deaths are among youths 14 and under, including the newly reported death of a 12-year-girl from Duval on Saturday, as well as 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.
Four other juveniles are among the 33 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-nine people from 25 to 34 also have died from the virus, which went down by 5. The state revises age and locations daily.
A total of 4,621 people 85 and older have died in the state from the virus, an increase of 47 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 12,002 cases of infants to 4 years old, an increase of 51, and 285 were hospitalized, which went up by 2. From ages 5-14, there are 29,815, an increase of 163 with 259 in the hospital at one time, which went up by 5.
From the infant to 54 age group, there are 505,034 of the 700,602 residents' cases. In that group, 985 have died, with a increase of 2, for a 0.19 death percentage. From infant to 64, there are 596,284cases. A total of 2,559 have died, an increase of 15, for a 0.43 percentage.
Cities
West Palm Beach is in first place among Palm Beach County cities with 11,454, with an increase of 28. Lake Worth, which includes the city and county portion, increased by 16 to 7,913, followed by Boca Raton at 6,824 up from 6,796. Boynton Beach went to 4,107 from 4,096 and Delray Beach at 3,165 vs. 3,160. A total of 1,148 in the county not designated by a city. In addition, the list of cities includes separate listings of misspellings and miscoded counties.
Port St. Lucie leads the Treasure Coast with 4,802, an increase of 10, followed by Fort Pierce at 2,816, up 12 and Stuart with 2,309, which went up by 12.
In Indian River County, Fellsmere, which has a population of 5,754, remained at 413 compared with only 3 on May 31.
Hospitalizations
A total of 44,320 people in the state have been hospitalized, a rise from 43,128 seven days ago. That means it is a running total and includes people who have been released or died.
The number is 3,687 in Palm Beach County, with a increase of 2 compared with 39 the day before; 396 in Martin, which went up by 2; St. Lucie at 679 with an increase of 7, Indian River rose by 2 to 306 and Okeechobee from 176 to 177.
Long-term care
Through Wednesday, 41 percent of the deaths, 5,888 are residents and staff of long-term care, including 604 in Palm Beach County, which is second most in the state behind 799 in Miami-Dade. The state increase was 58 and Palm Beach County went up by 4.
National
Since the first death was reported six months ago on Feb. 29, the toll has risen to 207,743, a gain of 811, according to Johns Hopkins. Worldometers reported an increase of 920 to 212,660.
Cases reached 7,273,943 with an increase of 40,901. They have exceeded 70,000 seven times, including a record 78,446 on July 24 and the last time was July 31.
Last Thursday in the U.S., there were 915 more deaths and 44,140 cases.
The one week U.S. death increase was 4,945 at 2.4 percent.
New York has the most deaths in the nation at 33,159 with 6 reported after a high of 799 in April.
Among other states in the top 10 for deaths: No. 2 New Jersey 3, No. 6 Massachusetts 24, No. 7 Illinois 24, No. 8 Pennsylvania 18, No. 9 Michigan 19, No. 10 Georgia 42.
Also, No. 11 Arizona reported 24 deaths, as well as an additional 705 cases. No. 24 Washington, the original epicenter in the United States, reported 5.
Worldwide
The U.S. represented 10.3 percent of a record 8,922 additional deaths Thursday, surpassing the mark of 8,513 on April 17, and 20.7 percent of the world total though its population is only 4.3 percent of the global total.
But 3,352 of those deaths were a backlog of cases in Buenos Aires reported by Argentina, which is in 13th place with 20,288.
The one week world death increase was 39,957 at 4.0 percent.
Last Thursday's death increase was 5,855.
Cases increased by 319,406 according to Worldometers.info. The record is 322,648 on Sept. 18.
Brazil, which is second behind the United States for deaths, reported 805 deaths to rise to 144,767. Brazil's record is 1,554 on July 29. The nation added 35,643 cases at 4,849,229 in third place.
India reported 86,821 cases compared with a world-record 97,894 to rise to 6,312,585, which is second in world behind U.S. Also, India recorded a world-high 1,181 deaths, behind a national-record 1,299 , to rise to 98,678 and in third place.
Mexico announced 432 more deaths late Thursday compared with a high of 1,092 on June 4 for a total of 78,078 in fourth place.
Four European nations are in the top 11 as cases are surging on the continent. The United Kingdom reported 59 additional deaths for 42,202 in fifth place with the record daily high 1,172, as well as 6,914 cases two days after record 7,143. No. 6 Italy, which at one time was the world's epicenter and reached 919 in one day, reported 24 deaths and 2,548 cases, which is the highest since 3,022 on April 24. No. 8 France announced 63 deaths, as well as 13,970 cases with the record 16,096 last week. Spain reported 182 deaths and is in ninth place in deaths, just 46 behind France, as well as 9,419 cases, behind the record 11,588 last month.
No. 7 Peru announced 72 deaths and is 516 ahead of France. No. 10 Iran reported 211 deaths.
Russia is in fourth place in the world in cases with 1,185,231, including an additional 8,945, fourth day in a row above 8,000. The nation gained 169 deaths and is in 12th.
No. 20 Canada reported 22 deaths for a total of 9,319 and 1,777 cases. Between May 26 and Aug. 30 cases were never more than 1,000.
No. 32 China, the original epicenter of the world, hasn’t reported a death since April 26, added 10 cases Friday.