WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Exactly four months after the first coronavirus cases were announced in Florida, new cases rose by 6,563 in one day – the fourth-highest – as the death toll increased by 45, the Florida Department of Health announced Wednesday.
After the first two cases were reported in Manatee and Hillsborough counties on March 1, the number has skyrocketed to 158,997 – for an average of 1,281 over those 122 days. Five days later, March 6, the first two deaths were announced in Lee and Santa Fe, and since then the toll has climbed to 3,550 for an average of 30 per day. That includes 2 more deaths in Palm Beach County and 1 in St. Lucie announced Wednesday.
Testing has dramatically ramped up from just a few at select sites to massive sites throughout Florida as well as nursing homes, jails and farm workers. The total now is 1,981,915 for an average of 16,237 per day compared with 45,366 per day most recently.
Likewise the positive rate has zoomed up. A few weeks ago the daily rate was around 2-3 percent, compared with 8.0 overall now, including 16.58 percent of results reported by labs Tuesday.
With more testing and no requirements for someone to take a test, the age has decreased to 40, including 36 on Wednesday. In addition, the mortality rate has subsided to 2.3 percent.
And at one time, 14,825 have been hospitalized for an average of 121 per day, compared with 245 Wednesday.
County breakdown
Palm Beach County, which reported its first death on March 22, has soared to 512, second in the state behind Miami-Dade and ahead of Broward.
Miami-Dade has reached the 1,000-death milestone, a rise of 9 in one day and 74 in one week. Broward increased by 2 to 385 and just 7 over 7 days.
St. Lucie rose to 48 – the most on the Treasure Coast – with the reported death of a 93-year-old man. Remaining the same were Martin at 25 and Indian River at 16. Okeechobee has none.
Cases
Wednesday's new cases were 462 more than the previous day's total of 6,091. The record was 9,585 set Saturday.
During a three-day stretch from Friday through Sunday, cases statewide rose by 27,057, including 8,530 Sunday and 8,942 Friday, for an average of 9,019. Cases had stayed below 2,000 until June 13 with 2,581 and they often were under 1,000 with the last one of three digits 966 on June 8.
Before the records Friday and Saturday, the highest was 5,511 set one week ago Wednesday. The next day cases rose by 5,004.
In Palm Beach County, new cases were 297 compared with 439 Tuesday and the record 658 Friday for a total of 14,447, including residents and nonresidents.
Florida's cases reported Wednesday were third in the nation behind California with 9,740 for a total of 229,563 and Texas with 8,076 for 168,062 total. Florida is fifth in the nation for most cases.
The total U.S. number Wednesday is a record 51,086, above the previous mark of 47,341 Friday.
In one week, Florida's cases have risen by 49,983 for an increase of 45.9 percent.
Cases have exploded in South Florida – with Miami-Dade's increase 1,141 from 1,598 and Broward dropping from 579 to 531. In the Treasure Coast area, the rise was 88 in St. Lucie, 57 in Martin, 42 in Indian River and 6 in Okeechobee.
Palm Beach County has risen by 2,911 cases in one week for a 25.2 percent gain. Miami Dade has risen by 10,182 at 36.7 percent and Broward by 3,938 at 32.2 percent.
Over seven days, Martin County climbed by 473 cases for 28.9 percent, St. Lucie County rose by 479 for 35.9 percent, Indian River County by 282 for 61.7 percent and Okeechobee County by 109 for 39.8 percent.
Deaths
Deaths rose by 269 in the state over seven days for 8.2 percent and in Palm Beach County it was 30 for 6.2 percent. The U.S. figures are 3.0 percent with the world at 6.4 percent.
Florida listed 100 nonresident deaths, an increase of 1 for a total of 3,650 of residents and nonresidents who died in the state.
Wednesday's increase of 45 deaths was below last Wednesday with 48 and Tuesday's 58.
Palm Beach County's death count is higher than 20 states, including Nevada at 511, which reported 4 new deaths Tuesday.
Deaths identified Wednesday in Palm Beach County were two women, 70 and 71, and a man, 94. One of those was among the increase of 7 on Tuesday.
Fourteen of the 45 deaths reported Wednesday were in South Florida for a total of 1,986, or 55.9 percent though the population only comprises 30 percent.
Testing
The total number of tests reported by labs was 45,366 through Tuesday night compared with 43,441 the day before. The positive rate was 16.58 percent compared with 16.80 the day before and 10.72 two weeks ago when there were 32,294 tests.
The state reported 15.04 percent of people who tested for the first time were positive, compared with 14.54 the day before. Two weeks ago, the percentage was 8.80.
The overall positive rate was up two-tenths of a percent to 8.0, compared with 6.4 percent one week ago and 10 percent several weeks ago.
Palm Beach County has 14,543 cases out of 146,543 total tested for 9.9 percent, not including those awaiting tests and inconclusive. Anything above 10.0 percent is considered out of "target range" by the health department.
Miami-Dade leads with 37,961 positive cases out of 320,268 tested for 11.9 percent, and Broward is second with 16,155 cases and 199,709 tested for 8.1 percentage.
In Martin County, it's 2,112 of 17,002 for 12.4 percent. In St. Lucie, it's 1,812 positive out of 22,906 for 7.9 percent, Indian River with 739 out of 14,497 for 4.1 percent and Okeechobee with 383 out of 3,677 for 10.4 percent.
Mortality rate
The mortality rate, which compares positive cases against deaths, has been trending down in the state.
It is 2.3 percent in the state compared with 4.7 percent in the United States and 4.8 percent worldwide, which passed 518,000 deaths and neared 10.8 million cases Wednesday.
Palm Beach County's rate was 3.5 percent, compared with Broward at 2.4 percent and Miami-Dade with 2.6 percent. With much fewer deaths, the mortality rate is 2.6 percent in St. Lucie, 2.2 percent in Indian River and 1.2 percent in Martin.
Florida has 165 deaths per 1 million people compared with the U.S. average of 395 per million. New York, which represents one-quarter of the deaths in the nation, has 1,652 per million. Worldwide, the figure is 66.4 per million.
Age breakdown
The youngest fatality in the state was reported Friday as a 16-year-old girl from Lee County. A 17-year-old boy from Pasco County previously was the youngest person to die from coronavirus. Others in the 15-24 age class are a 22-year-old woman from Palm Beach County, a 23-year-old woman from Miami-Dade County and a 22-year-old man from Pinellas. Twenty people from 25 to 34 also have died from the virus.
The oldest is a 108-year-old women from Miami-Dade. A total of 1,276 people 85 and older have died in the state from the virus, an increase of 16 in one day.
Ninety-four percent of the fatalities are 55 and older and 64 percent 75 and older. A smaller percentage of older people have tested positive – 29 percent age 55 and older – compared with 40 percent two weeks ago – and 8 percent 75 and older.
At the other end of the age spectrum, there are 2,361 cases of infants to 4 years old, an increase of 122, and 65 were hospitalized, with an increase of 3 in one day. From 5-14, there are 4,748 an increase of 270, with 57 in the hospital at one time, an increase of 2.
Cities
West Palm Beach is in first place among Palm Beach County cities with 3,362, an increase of 182. Lake Worth, which includes the city and county portion, rose 41 to 2,903, followed by Boynton Beach at 1,326 from 1,301, Boca Raton at 1,501, up from 1,450, Delray Beach at 923 from 905. A total of 296 in the county were not designated by a city.
Port St. Lucie leads the Treasure Coast with 1,164, an increase of 64, followed by Stuart with 1,019 vs. 984.
In Indian River, Fellsmere, which has a population of 5,754, decreased by 8 to 183, compared with only 3 on May 31.
Hospitalizations
A total of 14,825 people in the state have been hospitalized, which is 245 more than the day before and a rise from 13,574 last Wednesday. That means it is a running total and includes people who have been released or died.
The number is 1,833, in Palm Beach County, an increase of 33; 180 in Martin, an increase of 6; 170 in St. Lucie with an increase of 5, Indian River remained at 57 and Okeechobee went up 2 to 34.
Long-term care
More than half of the deaths, 1,867, are residents and staff of long-term care, including 224 in Palm Beach County. The state increase was 21 and Palm Beach County no change.
National
Florida, which is the third-most-populous state, is in ninth place, 322 ahead of Louisiana, which reported 9 deaths Wednesday, according to Worldometers.info.
Since the first death was reported on Feb. 29, the death toll has risen to 130,798, including an increase of 676 Wednesday are 764 the day before. There have been 210 days in a row of deaths under 1,000. Johns Hopkins reports 128,044
Cases hit 2,779,953 with the record 51,097.
Last Wednesday, there were 819 more deaths and 38,434 more cases.
The one week U.S. death increase was 3,819.
Arizona reported the most additional deaths, a state-record 88, and is in 17th place with 1,720. California was next with 83 in seventh place.
Others were No. 2 New Jersey with 41, No. 3 Massachusetts with 27, No. 4 Illinois with 28, No. 5 Pennsylvania with 39, No. 6 Michigan with 5, No. 8 Connecticut with 2.
No. 13 Georgia added 22 and Washington, which was the original epicenter in the United States, is in 21th place, with an increase of 7.
Worldwide
The U.S. represented 13.9 percent of the 4,847 additional deaths Wednesday – a figure that has been declining – and 25.2 percent of the world total though its population is only 4.3 percent of the global total. The one week world death increase was 31,379.
The additional death toll Tuesday was 5,062.
Like the U.S. record, the world cases mark was broken Wednesday with 196,901, around 2,000 more than the record of 194,190 Friday.
Deaths have been surging in Brazil, Mexico and India, which are in the top 10.
Brazil, which is second behind the United States for deaths, reported 1,057 deaths, which was the most in the world, after 1,271 Tuesday for a total of 60,713. The record is 1,492 on June 4. Brazil added 44,884 cases after a record 55,209 one week ago Friday. The South American nation has a total of 1,453,369 cases – about half as many as No. 1 U.S.
Mexico reported 741 more deaths late Wednesday compared with 648 the day before and a high of 1,092 on June 4 for seventh with 28,510. In addition, there were 5,681 cases.
India added 438 deaths after 506 Tuesday to rise to 17,848 in eighth place. The Asian nation also reported 19,428cases after a record 20,131 Saturday.
Four European nations are in the top 10 after Belgium dropped to 11th with 7, behind Peru, which reported 183 deaths. The United Kingdom's deaths increased from 155 to 176 for third place with 43,906, which is behind the United States and Brazil. The high was 1,172.
Fourth-place Italy, which at one time was the world's epicenter and reached 919 in one day, reported 21 deaths.
No. 5 France reported 18 after a high of 1,494. No. 6 Spain added 8. Germany, which was displaced from the top 10 recently by Iran and has dropped to 13th, added 9. No. 9 Iran reported 141 deaths.
Russia is in third place in the world in cases with 654,405 including an additional 6,556, behind the United States and Brazil. The nation added 216 more deaths, which is less than the record of 232, in 12th place.
No. 14 Canada added 24 deaths after 25 Tuesday.
Sweden, which has been doing "herd immunity, reported 12 additional deaths for a total of 5,370 in 17th. Neighboring Norway reported 1 death to rise to 251 and 17 more cases.
China, the original epicenter of the world but now in 19th place, hasn’t reported a death since April 26 and added 3 cases Thursday. The 57 cases one week ago Sunday were the highest since 89 on April 13.