Florida's reported coronavirus deaths rose by a U.S.-high 119, one day after 48, and cases increased by 2,725, which was nearly 1,200 more than Monday, and the first-time state positivity rate climbed to nearly 5 percent, including Palm Beach County more than doubling to 4.16 percent.
Florida's first-time daily infection rate of tests reported to labs was 4.99 percent one day after 4.25. The two-week low of 3.74 was Oct. 3 and the high of 7.85 two days ago when the state was dealing with a massive data dump. Palm Beach County's rate soared past 4 percent from 1.95, which was the lowest since 1.5 percent on May 19. The previous low was 2.14 on Sept. 27 and the previous two-week high was 4.17 on Sept. 30, not including the day involving the data dump.
The state's total daily positivity rate for all tests was 6.28 percent on 58,779 tests received Monday after 5.16 on 40,502 test. The previous highest percentage was 9.23 percent three days ago. Only 20,987 tests were reported Sept. 27 and the record test total was 142,964 July 11. Palm Beach County had 137 positive tests.
Weekend data are traditionally lower with daily increased deaths as high as 164 and cases 3,306 last week.
Last Tuesday fatalities rose by 55 and infections went up by 2,251.
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.
Since the first two deaths were announced on March 6, which is 221 days, the death toll has reached 15,531, with an average of 70 per day, with the total including nonresidents 15,722, which increased by 4 to 191.
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 Monday 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. 14.
In the state report Tuesday, 110 deaths were added with 9 cases changed for a net increase of 119.
Palm Beach County's death toll increased by 12 to 1,451, third highest in the state behind Miami-Dade and Broward, after an increase of 3 the day before. On the Treasure Coast, St. Lucie rose by 5 to 309, Martin increased by 3 to 141, Indian River remained at 119. Okeechobee rose by 1 to 34 deaths with its first two fatalities on July 25.
Broward increased by 12 and Miami-Dade by 20.
With a net increase of 53 deaths in South Florida of the 119 state total, which is 44.5 percent, there are 7,020, which is 45.2 percent of the state figure though the population only comprises 30 percent.
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.
Monday's increased cases were 1,533.
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.
One 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 739,749 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 172 after 49 for two days. On Sept. 28, the rise was 27.
Florida's new hospitalizations rose by 210 compared with 91 the day before. The state reported Tuesday there are currently 2,135 hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, which is 59 less than Monday.
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 second place with the addition of 64 deaths after a state-record 324 on Aug. 11, for a total of 16,622. California reported 9 and is in third place with 16,581, which is 41 behind Texas. New Jersey, which had been second throughout the pandemic, is in fourth place with 16,182, adding 7 fatalities.
Deaths rose by 764 in the state over seven days (a daily average of 109) for 5.2 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 65 for 4.7 percent. The U.S. figure is 2.4 percent with the world at 3.4 percent.
Miami-Dade rose to 3,465 with 116 more in one week. Broward increased to 1,481 with an increase of 52 in one week. St. Lucie has gone up by 15 deaths in one week compared with Martin by 9, Indian River by 1 and Okeechobee by 6, the most ever in seven days for the county.
Palm Beach County's death count is higher than 20 states, including Kentucky's 1,269 with 16 reported Tuesday.
Pinellas increased by 4 to 787 deaths in fourth place and Hillsborough up by 10 to 719 in fifth place, Polk by 4 to 557 in sixth, Orange by 4 to 520 in seventh and Lee by 1 to 484.
On Tuesday, the state identified 8 deaths in Palm Beach County, 5 women (67, 67, 75, 92, 100) and 3 men (70, 86, 96) though the net increase was 12. St. Lucie reported 3 men (80, 83, 87) and 2 women (70, 86). Martin added 2 women (78, 79) and an 88-year-old man. Okeechobee reported an 81-year-old man and Indian River a 94-year-old woman, but the county's net increase was none.
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 738,749, third in the nation. The average over 226 days is 3,269 per day.
In one week, cases have risen by 18,624, which averages 2,661 per day, at 2.6 percent.
California has the most cases in the U.S. at 852,496 with the addition of 2,378 Tuesday. Texas had a U.S.-high 5,210 and is second overall with 800,l415. New York, which was the leader during much of the pandemic, is in fourth at 4756,708, with an additional 1,391. Wisconsin set a state-record with 3,279 and is 17th overall.
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 48,176, including residents and nonresidents.
Miami-Dade's cases were 440 compared with 279 the day before and Broward's increase was 177 vs. 102. In the Treasure Coast area, the rise over one day, Martin was 16 vs. 1, St. Lucie 21 vs. 14, Indian River 9 vs. 8 and Okeechobee 4 vs. none.
Testing
Florida's total number of people tested is 5,600,616, which is 26.1 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 13.19 from 12.2 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 4.51 percent compared with 4.30 the day before, a two-week high 5.03 on Oct. 5 and a two-week low of 3.04 on Oct. 4. The rate hit 26.4 on July 8. Broward's rate was 3.24 percent after 2.26, a two-week low of 2.08 on Oct. 4 and a high of 3.99 on Sept. 30.
Elsewhere, St. Lucie's rate was 2.59 percent from 3.04, a two-week high of 6.73 on Sept. 29 and a low 2.44 four days ago. Martin's rate was 3.74 percent after a two-week low of 1.11and a high of 3.65 on Sept. 29. Indian River's rate was 2.06 percent after 2.41, a two-week low of 2.10 average Friday-Saturday and two-week high of 6.53 on Sept. 30.
Okeechobee's rate was 5.33 percent on 71 negative tests after zero on 22 tests and a two-week high of 15.28 on 61 negative tests Sept. 29.
Palm Beach County has 48,176 cases out of 388,395 total tested for 12.4 percent overall, not including those awaiting tests and inconclusive.
Miami-Dade leads with 175,837 positive cases out of 964,731 tested for 18.23 percentage, and Broward is second with 79,611 cases and 599,324 tested for 13.28 percentage.
In Martin County, it's 5,089 of 39,515 for 12.88 percent. In St. Lucie, it's 8,416 out of 66,457 for 12.66 percent, Indian River with 3,450 of 39,050 for 8.83 percent and Okeechobee 1,643 of 11,631 for 14.13 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 2.7 percent in the United States and 2.9 percent worldwide, which passed 1,090,000 deaths and passed 38.3 million cases Tuesday, according to Worldometers.info.
Palm Beach County's rate is 3.1 percent, a rise of one-tenth of a percent, compared with Broward at 1.9 percent and Miami-Dade with 2.0 percent. With much fewer deaths, the mortality rate is 3.7 percent from 3.6 in St. Lucie, 3.0 from 2.9 percent in Martin, 3.5 percent in Indian River and Okeechobee 2.1 percent from 2.0.
Florida has 723 deaths per 1 million people compared with the U.S. average of 666 per million. New York, which represents 15.4 percent of the deaths in the nation, has 1,717 per million. Worldwide, the figure is 139.9 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 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 went down by 1.
Ninety-three people from 25 to 34 also have died from the virus with 3 more.
A total of 4,965 people 85 and older have died in the state from the virus, an increase of 41 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 12,464 cases of infants to 4 years old, an increase of 34, and 296 were hospitalized, which went up by 1. From ages 5-14, there are 31,537, an increase of 150, with 274 in the hospital at one time, which didn't change.
From the infant to 54 age group, there are 525,806 of the 729,591 residents' cases. In that group, 1,043 have died, with an increase of 9, for a 0.20 death percentage. From infant to 64, there are 620,684 cases. A total of 2,755 have died, an increase of 24 for a 0.44 percentage.
Cities
West Palm Beach is in first place among Palm Beach County cities with 11,748 with an increase of 21. Lake Worth, which includes the city and county portion, increased by 13 to 8,050, followed by Boca Raton at 7,131 up from 7,102. Boynton Beach went to 4,250 from 4,225 and Delray Beach at 3,292 vs. 3,275. A total of 1,257 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 4,963, an increase of 11, followed by Fort Pierce at 2,896, up 6, and Stuart with 2,366, which rose by 8.
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 46,225 people in the state have been hospitalized, a rise from 45,004 seven days ago. That means it is a running total and includes people who have been released or died.
The number is 3,881, in Palm Beach County, with a increase of 16 compared with 8 the day before; 410 in Martin, which went up by 2; St. Lucie at 720 with an increase of 3, Indian River by 1 to 323 and Okeechobee from 183 to 185.
Long-term care
Forty-one percent of the deaths, 6,305 are residents and staff of long-term care, including 658 in Palm Beach County, which is second most in the state behind 827 in Miami-Dade. The state increase was 46 and Palm Beach County went up by 10.
Nation
Since the first death was reported six months ago on Feb. 29, the national toll has risen to 215,861, a rise of 786, according to Johns Hopkins. The tracking site had an incorrect total of 214,768 Monday. Worldometers.info has 220,873 deaths with an increase of 843.
Cases reached 7,854,917 with an increase of 50,718, 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 Tuesday in the U.S., there were 705 more deaths and 41,940 cases.
The one week U.S. death increase was 4,975 at 2.4 percent.
New York has the most deaths in the nation at 33,306, with Johns Hopkins reporting an increase of 6 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 29, No. 8 Pennsylvania 14, No. 9 Georgia 25 and No. 10 Michigan 30.
Also, No. 11 Arizona reported 8 deaths, as well as an additional 684 cases. Washington, the original epicenter in the United States, reported 21 Tuesday and moved past Minnesota back into 24th.
Worldwide
The U.S. represented 16.8 percent of 5,008 additional deaths Tuesday 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 36,132 at 3.4 percent.
Last Tuesday's death increase was 5,563.
Cases increased by 313,286 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, reported 354 deaths to rise to 151,073. Brazil's record is 1,554 on July 29. The nation added 11,415 cases, compared with 34,650 three days before, at 5,114,823 in third place.
India reported 55,342 cases, the lowest in two months and compared with a world-record 97,894 for second-place behind the U.S. with 7,175,881. Also, India recorded a world-high 706 deaths, behind a national-record 1,299, to rise to 1,09,856 and in third place.
Mexico announced 475 more deaths late Tuesday compared with a high of 1,092 on June 4 for a total of 74,420 in fourth place.
Four European nations are in the top 10 as cases are surging on the continent. The United Kingdom reported 143 additional deaths, the highest since 159 on June 10, for 43,018 in fifth place with the record daily high 1,172, as well as 17,234 cases, closed to the record five days ago of 7,540. No. 6 Italy, which at one time was the world's epicenter and reached 919 in one day, reported 41 deaths and 5,901 cases. No. 8 Spain reported 80 deaths and 7,118 cases. No. 9 France is 262 deaths behind Spain, announcing 117, as well as 12,993, three days after a record 26,896.
No. 7 Peru announced 62 deaths and is 215 ahead of Spain. No. 10 Iran 254 deaths after a record 272 one day ago and 4,108 cases compared with a record 4,392 five days ago.
Russia is in fourth place in the world in cases with 1,326,178, including a record 13,868 cases. The nation gained a record 244 deaths and in 13th.
No. 21 Canada reported 27 deaths for a total of 9,654 and a record 4,042 cases, one day after 975 cases, the first time it 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 6 deaths and is at 5,899. Neighboring Norway reported 1 death to rise to 277, as well as 154 more cases.
No. 32 China, the original epicenter of the world, hasn’t reported a death since April 26, added 20 cases Wednesday.
