WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida's Health Department reported 21 new coronavirus deaths Monday, including 2 in St. Lucie County, as cases increased by the lowest amount in three months, 1,685, encouraging fatality and infection data though they traditionally are lower from the weekend.
In addition, infection positivity rates declined.
The state's first-time daily cases rate decreased from 4.64 percent of all tested to 4.36 after a two-week low of 3.85 one week ago with every day over 14 days under 6 percent. In Palm Beach County, the rate decreased to 3.17 percent from 4.66, a two-week low of 2.96 one week ago and a two-week high was 5.75 Sept. 8. The county's rate has been under 4 percent 6 times over 14 days.
The state's total daily positivity rate for all tests declined slightly to 6.13 percent on 43,198 tests – the second lowest tests in two weeks – from 6.23 on 60,202. The two-week low was 5.16 percent seven days ago and the high was 8.13 percent on Sept. 8. The record test total was 142,964 July 11. Palm Beach County had a total of 94 positive results among 2,968 total tests.
Nine deaths were reported on Sunday. Last weekend it was 8 deaths Sunday, which was the lowest since 7 on June 15, and 34 on Monday. Deaths then surged by 145 Tuesday, 152 Wednesday, 147 Thursday, 139 Friday and down to 63 Saturday.
Since the first two deaths were announced on March 6, the death toll has climbed to 13,317 among residents, with an average of 67 per day, and 1,380 including 163 nonresidents, which didn't change.
On Sept. 9, the death toll passed 12,000 to 12,115 and eight days later passed 13,000 on Thursday,
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. Less than two months ago, July 20, there were 5,075 deaths.
Palm Beach County remained at 1,277 for the second day in a row, third highest in the state behind Miami-Dade and Broward. On the Treasure Coast, St. Lucie increased to 265 with the death of a 69-year-old man and a 102-year-old woman. Indian River remained at 110 and Martin at 132. Okeechobee is at 23 with its first two deaths on July 25.
Broward increased by 2 and Miami-Dade the second day in a row with none.
In South Florida, there were 4 of the 21 deaths for a total of 6,184 at 46.4 percent though the population only comprises 30 percent.
The last time deaths hit 200 was one week ago Thursday with 211 after 200 the previous day. Before that, the last 200-plus day was Aug. 18. The state record was 276 on Aug. 11.
Cases in Florida are much lower than three months ago.
On Sunday cases rose by 2,521 after Saturday's 3,573, Friday's 3,204, Thursday's 3,255, Wednesday's 2,355, Tuesday's 3,116 and 1,736 on Monday, which previously was 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 96 after 173 the day before and the previous low 100 two weeks ago.
Florida's new hospitalizations rose by 90 compared with 79 the day before. The state reported Monday there are currently 2,269 hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, which is 16 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 24 deaths after a state-record 324 on Aug. 11, for a total of 14,917. California reported a U.S.-high 31 new deaths and is in third place overall with 15,018, just 101 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: 96 on Aug. 26.
In a state report Monday, 23 deaths were added from the last day's report and 2 removed after determining they weren't related to COVID-19.
Deaths rose by 675 in the state over seven days (a daily average of 96) for 5.3 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 increased by 78 for 6.5 percent. The U.S. figure is 2.7 percent with the world at 3.9 percent.
Miami-Dade remained at 3,055, which is 171 more in one week. Broward increased to 1,322 with a rise of 38 in one week. St. Lucie has risen by 9 deaths in one week compared with Martin by 5, Indian River by 4 and Okeechobee by 2.
Palm Beach County's death count is higher than 23 states, including Iowa with 12,74 after adding 9 Monday.
Pinellas increased by 7 to 728 deaths in fourth place and Hillsborough stayed at 604 in fifth place. Polk is still at 507 in sixth and Lee remained at 458.
Cases
Since the first two cases were announced on March 1, Florida's total has surged to 3.2 percent of the state's 21.48 million population with 685,439, third in the nation. The average since March is 3,360 per day.
In one week, cases have risen by 19,709, which averages 2,816 per day, at 3.0 percent.
Cases passed 600,000 Aug. 23 and 500,000 on Aug. 5.
California has the most cases in the U.S. at 781,694 with the addition of a U.S.-high 3,294 Monday. Texas had 1,742 for second overall with 698,387. New York, which was the leader during much of the pandemic, is in fourth at450,473 with 573 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 45,425, including residents and nonresidents.
Miami-Dade's cases were 272 compared with 365 and Broward's increase was 119 vs. 183. In the Treasure Coast area, the rise over one day was 20 in Martin, 14 in St. Lucie, 12 in Indian River, 11 in Okeechobee.
Testing
Florida's total number of people tested is 5,120,391, fourth in the nation, behind No. 1 California, No. 2 New York and No. 3 Texas. That Florida figure is 23.8 percent of Florida's population. Recent past reported incorrectly reported New York was first and California second.
The overall Florida positive rate decreased to 13.39 percent from 13.40 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 11 days in a row, most recently 3.67 one day after 4.58, a two-week low of 3.58 three days ago and a two-week high 6.26 on Sept. 8. The rate hit 26.4 on July 8. Broward's rate has been less than 4 percent for two weeks, including most recently 2.50 one day after 3.56, a two-week low of 2.34 one week ago and a high of 3.82 six days ago.
Elsewhere, St. Lucie's rate increased to 3.5 percent from 3.1, a two-week low of 2.4 on Sept. 12 and a two-week high of 7.23 six days ago. Martin's rate spiked to 7.57 percent from 5.37, a two-week low of 1.59 five days ago and a high of 9.80 two days ago. Indian River's rate was 4.56 percent after 3.94, a two-week high of 4.59 percent six days ago and a two-week low of 2.09 on Sept. 11, which was among three days near 2 percent and below. Okeechobee's rate was 9.3 percent on 107 negative tests after 10.17 percent on 106 negative tests, a two-week high of 24.14 on 44 tests five days ago, a low of 4.17 on 69 negative tests on Sept. 7.
Palm Beach County has 45,425 cases out of 356,776 total tested for 12.73 percent overall, not including those awaiting tests and inconclusive.
Miami-Dade leads with 167,153 positive cases out of 890,593 tested for 13.77 percent, and Broward is second with 75,801 cases and 552,225 tested for 13.73 percentage.
In Martin County, it's 4,759 of 34,323 for 13.87 percent. In St. Lucie, it's 7,822 out of 59,231 for 13.21 percent, Indian River with 3,099 of 34,609 for 8.95 percent and Okeechobee 1,464 of 10,792 for 13.57 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 3.1 percent worldwide, which neared 969,000 deaths and passed 31.4 million cases Monday, according to Worldometers.info.
Palm Beach County's rate was 2.8 percent, compared with Broward at 1.8 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 620 deaths per 1 million people compared with the U.S. average of 617 per million. New York, which represents 16.6 percent of the deaths in the nation, has 1,706 per million. Worldwide, the figure is 124.3 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 didn't have any additions.
Eighty-nine people from 25 to 34 also have died from the virus, which didn't change.
A total of 4,308 people 85 and older have died in the state from the virus, an increase of 7 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 11,584 cases of infants to 4 years old, an increase of 23, and 271 were hospitalized, with no change. From ages 5-14, there are 28,491, an increase of 74 with 245 in the hospital at one time, with 1 more.
From the infant to 54 age group, there are 487,861 of the 677,362 residents' cases. In that group, 898 have died, with no change, for a 0.18 death percentage. From infant to 64, there are 575,941 cases. A total of 2,340 have died, an increase of 3, for a 0.40 percentage.
Cities
West Palm Beach is in first place among Palm Beach County cities with 11,190, with an increase of 19. Lake Worth, which includes the city and county portion, rose by 14 to 7,767 followed by Boca Raton at 6,524 up from 6,500, Boynton Beach at 4,025 from 4,017 and Delray Beach at 3,094 vs. 3,087. A total of 1,040 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 4,614 an increase of 13, followed by Fort Pierce at 2,758, up 1, and Stuart with 2,222, which increased by 11.
In Indian River County, Fellsmere, which has a population of 5,754, remained at 410 compared with only 3 on May 31.
Hospitalizations
A total of 43,543 people in the state have been hospitalized, a rise from 41,374 seven days ago. That means it is a running total and includes people who have been released or died.
The number is 3,562 in Palm Beach County, with an increase of 10 compared with 5 the day before; 386 in Martin, which went up by 1; 641 in St. Lucie with an increase of 2, Indian River remained at 290 and Okeechobee stayed at 163.
Long-term care
Forty-one percent of the deaths, 5,459 are residents and staff of long-term care, including 554 in Palm Beach County, which is second most in the state behind 775 in Miami-Dade. The state increase was 12 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 199,812, a gain of 303, according to Johns Hopkins. Worldometers reported a gain of 388 to 204,506.
Cases reached 6,833,722 with an increase of 28,918. 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 422 more deaths and 33,530 cases.
The one week U.S. death increase was 5,319 at 2.7 percent.
New York has the most deaths in the nation at 33,092 with an increase of 5 reported Monday, after a high of 799 in April.
Among other states in the top 10 for deaths: No. 2 New Jersey 1, No. 6 Massachusetts 7, No. 7 Illinois 7, No. 8 Pennsylvania 20, No. 9 Michigan 12, No. 10 Georgia 2.
Also, No. 11 Arizona reported 2 deaths, as well as an additional 233 cases. No. 23 Washington, the original epicenter in the United States, reported 18 deaths after none Saturday and Sunday.
Worldwide
The U.S. represented 9.6 percent of the 4,133 additional deaths Monday and 21.1 percent of the world total though its population is only 4.3 percent of the global total. The one week world death increase was 36,294 at 3.9 percent.
Last Monday's death increase was 4,381.
Cases increased by 230,853 after a record 315,101 Friday, according to Worldometers.info.
Brazil, which is second behind the United States for deaths, reported 455 deaths to rise to 137,650. Brazil's record is 1,554 on July 29. The nation added 15,454 cases at 4,560,083 in third place.
India reported 86,961 cases after a world-record 97,894 four days before to rise to 5,487,480, which is second in world behind U.S. India also recorded a world-high 1,130 deaths, five days after a national-record 1,299, to rise to 87,882 and in third place.
Mexico announced 204 more deaths late Monday compared with a high of 1,092 on June 4 for a total of 73,697 in fourth place.
Four European nations are in the top 11 as cases are surging on the continent. The United Kingdom reported 11 additional deaths for 41,788 in fifth place with the record daily high 1,172, as well as 4,368 cases, which was the highest since 5,086 on May 7. No. 6 Italy, which at one time was the world's epicenter and reached 919 in one day, reported 17 deaths. No. 8 France announced 53 deaths, as well as 5,298 cases two days after record 13,498. No. 9 Spain reported 56 deaths.
No. 7 Peru announced 105 deaths and is 136 ahead of France. No. 10 Iran reported 177 death.
Russia is in fourth place in the world in cases with 1,109,595, including an additional 6,196. The nation gained 71 deaths and is in 12th.
No. 20 Canada reported 11 deaths for a total of 9,224 and 1,766 cases, the most since 2,760 on May 3.
Sweden, which has been doing "herd immunity" with no lockdown, reported no data for three days in a row and is at 5,865. Neighboring Norway reported no deaths for the third day in a row to remain 267, as well as 108 more cases.
No. 30 China, the original epicenter of the world, hasn’t reported a death since April 26, and added 6 cases Tuesday.