WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida reported 5 additional coronavirus deaths and 738 cases, statistics that are the lowest in nearly four months. Also, Palm Beach County's first-time daily positivity rate sunk to 2.06 percent as testing data severely decreased in one day to just under 21,000 in the state, the Department of Health announced Monday.
The deaths included 1 each in Palm Beach County, St. Lucie, Okeechobee and Broward with Miami-Dade reporting a decrease of 3.
Weekend data are traditionally lower with 10 deaths reported Sunday as well as 9 last Sunday and 21 last Monday.
Monday's death total tied for the last lowest of 5 on May 31. And the cases are the fewest since June 2 when there were 617 additional infections.
These figures are significant lower than the record of 276 deaths on Aug. 11 and 15,300 cases on July 5, with the latter the highest figure ever in the United States.
The state's first-time daily infection rate of all tested was 4.23 percent after a two-week low of 4.05 the day before and a high of 5.84 on Sept. 21, just two days over 14 days more than 5 percent. Palm Beach County's rate decreased to the lowest in several months, 2.06 after 2.99 the day before and 2.91 three days ago, at the time the lowest since May 18. The high of 6.80 six days ago was the only time it was above 5 percent over 14 days.
The state's total daily positivity rate for all tests rose slightly to 5.34 on 20,991 tests reported by labs to the state Saturday, among the lowest in several months from 5.33 on 49,543 the day before. The two-week low was 5.33 percent on Sept. 17 and the high was 7.54 six days ago. The record test total was 142,964 July 11. In Palm Beach County there were only 28 positive tests reported to the state on 1,362 total tested.
Florida's total of 701,302 cases is 10 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, with 500,000 on Aug. 5, 400,000 on July 24, 300,000 on July 15, 100,000 on June 22 and 50,000 on May 23.
For the past five days new deaths have declined with 202 reported Wednesday, 177 Thursday, 120 Friday and 107 Saturday.
Since the first two deaths were announced on March 6, which is 206 days, the death toll has climbed to 14,037 among residents, with an average of 68 per day, and 14,205 including 170 nonresidents, which didn't change.
It took nine days for the toll to pass from 13,000 to 14,00. 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 1,343, third highest in the state behind Miami-Dade and Broward, after none the day before. On the Treasure Coast, St. Lucie is at 276, Martin at 142 and Indian River at 116. Okeechobee has 27 deaths with its first two fatalities on July 25.
With a net increase of 1 death in South Florida, the total of 6,512 is 46.4 percent of the state figure though the population only comprises 30 percent.
Cases in Florida are much lower than three months ago.
On Sunday they were 1,882, Saturday's was 2,795, Friday's 2,847, Thursday's 2,541, Wednesday's was 2,590, Tuesday's 2,470 and Monday cases by 1,685, which at the time was the lowest since 1,371 on June 10. Then, on June 15 they hit 1,758. The last time there were more than 3,000 cases was 3,573 one week ago Saturday.
The last time cases were more than 4,000 was 4,684 on Aug. 22.
Palm Beach County's daily cases increased by 27 after 100 the day before and matched two weeks ago.
Florida's new hospitalizations rose by 43 compared with 64 the day before. The state reported Monday there are currently 2,109 hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, which is 4 more 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 11 deaths Monday after a state-record 324 on Aug. 11, for a total of 15,533. California tied Arkansas with the most new deaths, 21, and is in third place overall with 15,608, just 75 ahead of Texas.
State and county increases represent fatalities received by the state Sunday 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: 83 on Aug. 29.
In a state report Monday, 10 deaths were added from the last day's report and 5 removed after determining they weren't related to COVID-19.
Deaths rose by 720 in the state over seven days (a daily average of 103) for 5.4 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 66 for 5.2 percent. The U.S. figure is 2.6 percent with the world at 3.8 percent.
Miami-Dade decreased to 3,228 with 173 more in one week. Broward is at 1,380 with a rise of 58 in one week. St. Lucie has risen by 11 deaths in one week compared with Martin by 10, Indian River by 6 and Okeechobee by 4.
Palm Beach County's death count is higher than 23 states, including Arkansas' 1,329 after adding 21 and Iowa's 1,321 after adding 6.
Pinellas remained at 744 deaths in fourth place and Hillsborough at 628 in fifth place. Polk decreased by 1 to 528 in sixth and Lee wet up by 2 to 467 in seventh.
The identified deaths included a 74-year-old man in Palm Beach County, a 90-year-old man in St. Lucie and an 81-year-old man in Okeechobee.
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 701,302, third in the nation. The average over 211 days is 3,324 per day.
In one week, cases have risen by 15,863, which averages 2,266 per day, at 2.3 percent.
California has the most cases in the U.S. at 805,263 with the addition of a U.S.-high 2,955 Monday. Texas had 1,397 and is second overall with 739,743. New York, which was the leader during much of the pandemic, is in fourth at 456,410 with an additional 784.
Florida's daily case increases have been below 10,000 since July 26 when they climbed by 12,199.
In Palm Beach County, new cases have been much lower since the record 1,171 July 5. The total now is46,310, including residents and nonresidents.
Miami-Dade's cases were 40 compared with 282 and Broward's increase was 20 vs. 154. In the Treasure Coast area, the rise over one day was 4 in Martin, 9 in St. Lucie, 6 in Indian River, 2 in Okeechobee.
Testing
Florida's total number of people tested is 5,268,827, which is 24.5 percent of the state's population behind No. 1 California, No. 2 New York, No. 3 Texas and No. 4 Illinois, which recently surpassed Florida.
The overall Florida positive rate decreased to 13.31 percent from 13.32 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 decreased to a two-week low of 2.70 percent after 4.26 percent and a two-week high 5.49 six days ago. The rate hit 26.4 on July 8. Broward's rate was a two-week low of 1.74 percent after 3.52 and a high of 4.93 five days ago, the first time it was over 4 percent in two weeks.
Elsewhere, St. Lucie's rate increased to 3.60 from a two-week low of 2.48 and two-week high of 7.13 on Sept. 14. Martin's rate was 2.04 percent after 2.05, a two-week low of 1.59 on Sept. 15 and a high of 9.87 on Sept. 18. Indian River's rate was 4.55 percent after a two-week high of 7.21 percent and a two-week low of 2.33 on Sept. 16, which was among two days near 3 percent and below. Okeechobee's rate was 25.0 on 6 negative tests after 18.68 on 74 negative tests, a two-week high of 34.33 percent on 44 tests six days ago and a low of 4.35 on 44 four days ago.
Palm Beach County has 46,310 cases out of 366,526 total tested for 12.63 percent overall, not including those awaiting tests and inconclusive.
Miami-Dade leads with 169,466 positive cases out of 912,211 tested for 18.58 percent, and Broward is second with 76,874 cases and 565,039 tested for 13.61 percentage.
In Martin County, it's 4,894 of 35,439 for 13.81 percent. In St. Lucie, it's 8,009 out of 61,474 for 13.03 percent, Indian River with 3,225 of 35,965 for 8.97 percent and Okeechobee 1,556 of 11,093 for 14.03 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 2.9 percent in the United States and 3.0 percent worldwide, which passed 1 million deaths Sunday and is at 1,006,121 Monday and passed 33.5 million cases, according to Worldometers.info. In tracking by Johns Hopkins, the death toll passed 1 million Monday.
Palm Beach County's rate was 2.9 percent, compared with Broward at 1.8 percent and Miami-Dade with 1.9 percent. With much fewer deaths, the mortality rate is 3.5 percent in St. Lucie, 2.9 percent in Martin, 3.6 percent in Indian River and 1.7 percent in Okeechobee.
Florida has 654 deaths per 1 million people compared with the U.S. average of 634 per million. New York, which represents 16.2 percent of the deaths in the nation, has 1,708 per million. Worldwide, the figure is 129.1 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.
Ninety-four people from 25 to 34 also have died from the virus, which didn't change.
A total of 4,492 people 85 and older have died in the state from the virus, an increase of 1 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 11,861 cases of infants to 4 years old, an increase of 21, and 277 were hospitalized, which went up by 1. From ages 5-14, there are 29,391, an increase of 41 with 251 in the hospital at one time, which didn't change.
From the infant to 54 age group, there are 499,014 of the 692,962 residents' cases. In that group, 962 have died, with no change, for a 0.19 death percentage. From infant to 64, there are 589,186 cases. A total of 2,500 have died, an increase of 1, for a 0.42 percentage.
Cities
West Palm Beach is in first place among Palm Beach County cities with 11,369, with an increase of 9. Lake Worth, which includes the city and county portion, decreased by 3 to 7,878 followed by Boca Raton at 6,728 up from 6,723. Boynton Beach stayed at 4,074 and Delray Beach at 3,151 vs. 3,147. A total of 1,111 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 4,739, an increase of 4, followed by Fort Pierce at 2,788, up 2, and Stuart with 2,284, which decreased by 2.
In Indian River County, Fellsmere, which has a population of 5,754, remained at 412 compared with only 3 on May 31.
Hospitalizations
A total of 43,606 people in the state have been hospitalized, a rise from 42,543 seven days ago. That means it is a running total and includes people who have been released or died.
The number is 3,632 in Palm Beach County, with an increase of 2 compared with 1 the day before; 391 in Martin, which didn't change; St. Lucie at 663 with an increase of 5, Indian River stayed at 297 and Okeechobee remained at 172.
Long-term care
Forty-one percent of the deaths, 5,721 are residents and staff of long-term care, including 585 in Palm Beach County, which is second most in the state behind 795 in Miami-Dade. The state increase was 1 and Palm Beach County didn't change.
National
Since the first death was reported six months ago on Feb. 29, the toll has risen to 205,062, a gain of 306, according to Johns Hopkins. Worldometers reported an increase of 355 to 209,808.
Cases reached 7,147,751 with an increase of 32,743. They have exceeded 70,000 seven times, including a record 78,446 on July 24 and the last time was July 31.
Last Monday in the U.S., there were 356 more deaths and 52,070 cases.
The one week U.S. death increase was 5,197 at 2.6 percent.
New York has the most deaths in the nation at 33,140 with 9 reported after a high of 799 in April.
Among other states in the top 10 for deaths: No. 2 New Jersey 4, No. 6 Massachusetts 11, No. 7 Illinois 13, No. 8 Pennsylvania 1, No. 9 Michigan 7, No. 10 Georgia 15.
Also, No. 11 Arizona reported 1 death, as well as an additional 273 cases. No. 24 Washington, the original epicenter in the United States, reported 3.
Worldwide
The U.S. represented 9.3 percent of the 3,837 additional deaths Monday and 20.9 percent of the world total though its population is only 4.3 percent of the global total. The one week world death increase was 36,869 at 3.8 percent.
Last Monday's death increase was 4,137.
Cases increased by 230,547, according to Worldometers.info. The record is 322,648 on Sept. 18.
Brazil, which is second behind the United States for deaths, reported 385 deaths to rise to 142,161. Brazil's record is 1,554 on July 29. The nation added 16,018 cases at 4,748,327 in third place.
India reported 82,170 cases after a world-record 97,894 one week ago to rise past 6 million at 6,074,703, which is second in world behind U.S. Also, India recorded a world-high 1,039 deaths, after a national-record 1,299 last week, to rise to 95,542 and in third place.
Mexico announced 173 more deaths late Monday compared with a high of 1,092 on June 4 for a total of 76,603 in fourth place.
Four European nations are in the top 11 as cases are surging on the continent. The United Kingdom reported 13 additional deaths for 42,001 in fifth place with the record daily high 1,172, as well as 4,044 cases, three days after a record 6,874. No. 6 Italy, which at one time was the world's epicenter and reached 919 in one day, reported 16 deaths. No. 8 France announced 81 deaths, as well as 4,070 cases. Spain reported 59 deaths and is in ninth place in deaths, just 397 behind France.
No. 7 Peru announced 62 deaths and is 516 ahead of France. No. 10 Iran reported 190 deaths.
Russia is in fourth place in the world in cases with 1,159,573, including an additional 8,135, the most since 8,248 on June 16. The nation gained 61 deaths and is in 12th.
No. 20 Canada reported 10 deaths for a total of 9,278 and 2,176 cases, the most since 2,760 on May 3. No other day has been more than 2,000. Between May 26 and Aug. 30 cases were never more than 1,000.
Sweden, which has been doing "herd immunity" with no lockdown, reported no data and is at 5,880. Neighboring Norway reported 4 deaths to rise to 274, as well as 90 more cases.
China, the original epicenter of the world, hasn’t reported a death since April 26 and dropped to 32nd behind Romania and Saudi Arabia, and added 12 cases Tuesday.