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State reports 1,533 new coronavirus cases, 48 additional deaths

Palm Beach County's first-time positive rate drops below 2%; Florida at 4.28%
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Posted at 11:53 AM, Oct 12, 2020
and last updated 2020-10-12 23:34:38-04

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida's reported coronavirus deaths rose by a U.S.-high 48 and cases increased by 1,533 in one day, numbers that are similar to one Monday ago, as the first-time case positivity rate remained encouraging at 4.28 percent in the state, including 1.95 percent in Palm Beach, the Florida Department of Health announced.

Last Monday fatalities rose by 41 and infections went up by 1,412. Weekend data are traditionally lower with daily increased deaths as high as 164 and cases 3,306 last week. Monday's new infections included 49 in Palm Beach County, 1 in Martin, 14 in St. Lucie, 8 in Indian River and none in Okeechobee.

On Sunday, the state released two days' worth of data to reconcile information because it said 400,000 previously reported COVID-19 test results from Helix Laboratory, a private lab not affiliated with the state, were dumped into the system.

However, on Monday, the agency said in a news release the lab's submissions "were significantly lower than 400,000" and the duplicates were from "an unforeseen technical issue" that were "not the fault of Helix or the Department of Health."

On Sunday, the agency announced a U.S.-high 178 additional deaths and 5,570 more cases.

Florida's first-time daily infection rate of tests reported to labs was slightly higher than the two-day average of 4.22 (7.87 then 3.44). The two-week low of 3.74 was Oct. 3 and a previous high of 5.25 six days ago. Palm Beach County's rate was the lowest since 1.5 percent on May 19, on 2,822 negative tests from a two-day average of 3.14 (8.77, 2.28). The previous low was 2.14 on Sept. 27 and the previous two-week high was 4.17 on Sept. 30.

The state's total daily positivity rate for all tests was 5.17 on 40,510 tests received Sunday after 9.24 on 24,586 Friday then 4.43 on 114,667. The previous highest percentage was 6.82 six days ago. Only 20,987 tests were reported Sept. 27 and the record test total was 142,964 July 11. Palm Beach County had 56 positive tests.

The two days' worth of data were more than one week ago: 74 deaths Saturday and 43 Sunday for a total of 117 and 2,811 cases Saturday and 1,844 Sunday for a total of 3,655. Statistics are traditionally lower on Sunday and Monday from weekend data.

In the state report, 46 deaths were reported from the previous day with 2 additional cases changed for a net increase of 48.

Since the first two deaths were announced on March 6, which is 220 days, the death toll has reached 15,412, with an average of 70 per day, with the total including nonresidents 15,599, which dropped from 188 to 187.

It took 12 days for the death toll to pass 15,000 Thursday, nine days to surpass 14,000 and eight to go past 12,000.

It was 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. Nearly three month ago, July 20, there were 5,075 deaths.

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: 63 on Sept. 11.

Palm Beach County's death toll increased by 3 to 1,449, third highest in the state behind Miami-Dade and Broward, after an increase of 21 for two days of data the day before. On the Treasure Coast, St. Lucie rose by 1 to 304, Martin increased by 1 to 148, Indian River remained at 119. Okeechobee rose by 1 to 33 deaths with its first two fatalities on July 25.

Broward increased by 2 and Miami-Dade by 6.

With a net increase of 14 deaths in South Florida of the 48 state total, which is 29.2 percent, there are 6,967, which is 45.2 percent of the state figure though the population only comprises 30 percent.

Deaths in the state rose by 118 on Friday. Thursday's one-day increase of 164 was the most since 174 on Wednesday, Sept. 30. The record was 276 deaths on Tuesday, Aug. 11.

Thursday's cases' increase of 3,306 was the most in one day since 3,573 on Sept. 19. The last time cases were more than 4,000 was 4,684 on Aug. 22.

On Monday ago, Sept. 29, the 738 cases were fewest since June 2 when there were 617 additional infections. Then, they increased to 3,266 on Tuesday, Sept. 30.

Florida's total of 734,024 cases is nearly 10 percent of the total infections in the U.S. though the state only comprises 6.5 percent of the population.

On Sunday, Sept. 27, cases passed 700,000 after surpassing 600,000 more than one month ago, Aug. 23.

Cases in Florida have been trending lower, including in South Florida.

Palm Beach County's daily cases increased by 49 after 307 for two days. On Sept. 28, the rise was 27.

Florida's new hospitalizations rose by 91 compared with 249 the day before. The state reported Monday there are currently 2,194 hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, which is 74 more than Sunday.

Deaths

Florida is in fifth place in the United States in fatalities. On June 16, Florida was in 11th place in the nation.

Texas is in third place with the addition of just 1 death Monday after a state-record 324 on Aug. 11, for a total of 16,558. California reported 8 and is in third place with 16,572, which is 14 ahead of Texas. New Jersey, which had been second throughout the pandemic, is in fourth place with 16,175, adding 1 fatality.

Deaths rose by 700 in the state over seven days (a daily average of 100) for 4.8 percent, a figure tally that had been more than 1,200 deaths recently. Earlier the one-week figure was in the mid 200s. Palm Beach County increased by 55 for 3.9 percent. The U.S. figure is 1.8 percent with the world at 3.5 percent.

Miami-Dade rose to 3,445 with 111 more in one week. Broward increased to 1,469 with an increase of 46 in one week. St. Lucie has gone up by 10 deaths in one week compared with Martin by 5, Indian River by 1 and Okeechobee by 5.

Palm Beach County's death count is higher than 20 states, including Kentucky's 1,253 with 1 reported Monday.

Pinellas increased by 1 to 783 deaths in fourth place and Hillsborough up by 3 to 709 in fifth place, Polk stayed at 557 in sixth, Orange by 2 to 516 in seventh and Lee remained at 483.

On Monday, the state identified 2 deaths in Palm Beach County, two women (87, 91), though the net increase was 3. Okeechobee report a 56-year-old man, St. Lucie 96-year-old woman and Martin a 95-year-old man.

Cases

Since the first two cases were announced on March 1, Florida's total has surged to 3.4 percent of the state's 21.48 million population with 736,024, third in the nation. The average over 225 days is 3,271 per day.

In one week, cases have risen by 18,150, which averages 2,593 per day, at 2.5 percent.

California has the most cases in the U.S. at 850,028 with the addition of a U.S.-high 3,449. Texas had 2,384 and is second overall with 795,126. New York, which was the leader during much of the pandemic, is in fourth at 475,315, with an additional 1,029.

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 48,004, including residents and nonresidents.

Miami-Dade's cases were 279 compared with 1,006 for two days and Broward's increase was 102 vs. 537.

Testing

Florida's total number of people tested is 5,574,469, which is 26.9 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 decreased to 13.2 from 12.22 in one day.

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 was 4.33 percent compared with 5.09 over two days, a two-week high of 6.83 Sept. 28 and a two-week low of 3.04 on Oct. 4. The rate hit 26.4 on July 8. Broward's rate was2.36 after a two-day rate of 3.78, a two-week low of 208 on Oct. 4 and a high of 4.0 on Sept. 30.

Elsewhere, St. Lucie's rate was 3.04 percent from a two-day 2.94, a two-week low of 2.44 three days ago, a two-week high of 6.73 on Sept. 29. Martin's rate was a two-week low of 1.11 after a two-day average of 2.73 and a high of 3.65 on Sept. 29. Indian River's rate was 2.41 after a two-week low of 2.1 for two days and two-week high of 6.53 on Sept. 30. Okeechobee's rate was zero on 22 negative tests after 3.40 for two days on257 negative tests and a two-week high of 15.28 on 61 negative tests Sept. 29.

Palm Beach County has 48,004 cases out of 386,765 total tested for 12.41 percent overall, not including those awaiting tests and inconclusive.

Miami-Dade leads with 175,397 positive cases out of 960,636 tested for 18.26 percentage, and Broward is second with 79,434 cases and 596,596 tested for 13.31 percentage.

In Martin County, it's 5,073 of 39,271 for 12.92 percent. In St. Lucie, it's 8,395 out of 66,089 for 12.2 percent, Indian River with 3,441 of 38,819 for 8.86 percent and Okeechobee 1,639 of 11,582 for 14.15 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 2.8 percent in the United States and 2.9 percent worldwide, which passed 1,085,000 deaths and passed 38.0 million cases Monday, according to Worldometers.info.

Palm Beach County's rate is 3.0 percent, compared with Broward at 1.9 percent and Miami-Dade with 2.0 percent. With much fewer deaths, the mortality rate is 3.6 percent in St. Lucie, 2.9 percent in Martin, 3.5 percent in Indian River and Okeechobee 2.0 percent.

Florida has 718 deaths per 1 million people compared with the U.S. average of 665 per million. New York, which represents 15.5 percent of the deaths in the nation, has 1,716 per million. Worldwide, the figure is 139.2 per million.

Age breakdown

Five deaths are among youths 14 and under, a 6-year-old from Hillsborough, a 9-year-year old from Putnam, two 11-year-olds, a boy in Miami-Dade and a girl in Broward, as well as a 12-year-girl from Duval.

Four other juveniles are among the 32 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 change.

Ninety people from 25 to 34 also have died from the virus with no change.

A total of 4,924 people 85 and older have died in the state from the virus, an increase of 20 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 12,430 cases of infants to 4 years old, an increase of 22, and 295 were hospitalized, which didn't change. From ages 5-14, there are 31,387, an increase of 68, with 274 in the hospital at one time, which increased by 2.

From the infant to 54 age group, there are 523,827 of the 726,934 residents' cases. In that group, 1,034 have died, with an increase of 1, for a 0.20 death percentage. From infant to 64, there are 617,078 cases. A total of 2,731 have died, an increase of 6 for a 0.44 percentage.

Cities

West Palm Beach is in first place among Palm Beach County cities with 11,727 with an increase of 2. Lake Worth, which includes the city and county portion, increased by 5 to 8,037 followed by Boca Raton at 7,102 up from 7,094. Boynton Beach went to 4,276 from 4,218 and Delray Beach at 3,275 vs. 3,270. A total of 1,249 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 4,952, an increase of 8, followed by Fort Pierce at 2,890, up 2, and Stuart with 2,358, which rose by 3.

In Indian River County, Fellsmere, which has a population of 5,754, remained at 419 compared with only 3 on May 31.

Hospitalizations

A total of 46,015 people in the state have been hospitalized, a rise from 44,775 seven days ago. That means it is a running total and includes people who have been released or died.

The number is 3,865 in Palm Beach County, with a increase of 8 compared with 35 the day before; 408 in Martin, which didn't change; St. Lucie at 717 with an increase of 3, Indian River remained at 322 and Okeechobee stayed at 183.

Long-term care

Forty-one percent of the deaths, 6,259 are residents and staff of long-term care, including 648 in Palm Beach County, which is second most in the state behind 823 in Miami-Dade. The state increase was 21 and Palm Beach County went up by 2.

Nation

Since the first death was reported six months ago on Feb. 29, the national toll has risen to 214,061, a reduction of 707, according to Johns Hopkins. No explanation was given for the change.

Worldometers reported an increase of 316 to 220,011.

Cases reached 7,803,259 with an increase of 40,713, according to Hopkins. 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 460 more deaths and 39.562 cases.

The one week U.S. death increase was 3,880 at 1.8 percent, including the reduction Monday.

New York has the most deaths in the nation at 33,301, with Johns Hopkins reporting an increase of 7 after a high of 799 in April. Hopkins lists confirmed and probable deaths, with the latter not a positive case.

Among other states in the top 10 for deaths: No. 6 Massachusetts 13, No. 7 Illinois 13, No. 8 Pennsylvania 18, No. 9 Georgi 13 and No. 10 Michigan 6.

Also, No. 11 Arizona reported no deaths for the second day in a row, as well as an additional 475 cases. Washington, the original epicenter in the United States, reported 2 after none for two days and dropped to 25th behind Minnesota.

Worldwide

The U.S. represented 8.4 percent of 3,756 additional deaths Monday and 20.3 percent of the world total though its population is only 4.3 percent of the global total.

The one week world death increase was 36,636 at 3.5 percent.

Last Monday's death increase was 4,269.

Cases increased by 275,232 two days after a record 359,270, according to Worldometers.info. The world has been gaining 1 million cases every three days.

Brazil, which is second behind the United States for deaths, initially reported 203deaths to rise to 150,709. Brazil's record is 1,554 on July 29. The nation added 8,429 cases, compared with 34,650 two days before, at 5,103,408 in third place.

India reported 66,732 cases, compared with a world-record 97,894 for second-place behind the U.S. with 7,120,539. Also, India recorded a world-high 816 deaths, behind a national-record 1,299, to rise to 1,09,150 and in third place.

Mexico announced 164 more deaths late Monday compared with a high of 1,092 on June 4 for a total of 83,945 in fourth place.

Four European nations are in the top 10 as cases are surging on the continent. The United Kingdom reported 50 additional deaths for 42,875 in fifth place with the record daily high 1,172, as well as 13,972 cases four days after a record 17,540. No. 6 Italy, which at one time was the world's epicenter and reached 919 in one day, reported 39 deaths and 4,619. No. 8 Spain reported 65 deaths and 9,286 cases after no data for two days. No. 9 France is 345 deaths behind Spain, announcing 96, as well as 8,505, two days after a record 26,896.

No. 7 Peru announced 52 deaths and is 233 ahead of Spain. No. 10 Iran reported a record 272 deaths and 4,206 cases compared with a record 4,392, four days ago.

Russia is in fourth place in the world in cases with 1,312,310, including an additional 13,592 one day after a record 13,734. The nation gained 125 deaths and in 13th.

No. 21 Canada reported 14 deaths for a total of 9,627 and 975 cases, the first time the later was under four digits in 870 on Sept. 20. 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 since Friday and is at 5,894. Neighboring Norway reported the first death since Oct. 2 to rise to 276, as well as 61 more cases.

No. 32 China, the original epicenter of the world, hasn’t reported a death since April 26, added 13 cases Tuesday.