WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida's coronavirus death toll of residents passed 16,000, including an addition of a US.-high 54 Monday, as cases dropped under 2,000 for the first time in one week, 1,707, the Florida Department of Health announced. Also, the state's first-time daily positivity rate remained below 5 percent with Palm Beach County dropping more a percentage point to under 3 percent.
Florida became the fifth state in the nation to pass 16,000 deaths among residents. Since the first two deaths were announced on March 6, which is 227 days, the death toll has reached 16,021, with an average of 71 per day, and the total including nonresidents is 16,222, which remained at 201.
It took 12 days for the death toll to pass 16,000, the same to surpass 15,000 residents Oct. 7, but 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.
Cases have decreased since reaching a two-month high of 4,044 Saturday after 3,449 Friday and 3,356 Thursday. They dropped to 2,539 Sunday.
One Sunday ago 5,570 cases were announced but they were for two days because the health department was dealing with a data dump of previously released tests from one lab.
Last Monday's increased cases were 1,533. On Monday, Sept. 29, the 738 cases were fewest since June 2 when there were 617 additional infections. Then, they then increased to 3,266 on Tuesday, Sept. 30.
In one week cases have risen by 20,703 for an average of 2,958 at 2.8 percent. The previous week they rose by 18,150, which averages 2,593 per day.
Although infections in Florida are trending upward like in most other states in the nation, new cases are exponentially lower than its U.S. daily high of 15,300 in July.
The previous time cases were more than 4,000 was 4,684 on Aug. 22.
Florida's first-time daily infection rate of tests reported to labs was 4.86 percent compared with 4.66 the day before. The two-week low was 4.1 on Oct. 6 and the high of 5.38 four days ago not including a data dump over the previous weekend. Palm Beach County's rate dropped to 2.74 percent from 3.97, a two-week high five days ago of 4.59, not including the data dump, and seven days ago at 1.92, which was the lowest since 1.5 percent on May 19. Two other times the rate was below 3 percent: 2.74 on Oct. 6, 2.37 on Oct. 8.
The state's total daily positivity rate for all tests was 6.02 percent on 39,731 tests received Sunday after 5.94 on 57,765 tests. The highest percentage was 9.23 percent on Oct. 9 and the lowest 4.42 Oct 10. Only 20,987 tests were reported Sept. 27 and the record test total was 142,964 July 11. Palm Beach County had 66 positive tests.
The number of deaths over one week is 609, an average of 86, compared with 603 the previous week.
In the state, fatalities rose by 54 Saturday and 48 last Monday. Two Monday's ago, the increase was41.
The one-day increase of 164 Thursday, Oct. 8 was the most since 174 on Wednesday, Sept. 30. The record was 276 deaths on Tuesday, Aug. 11.
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: 59 on Sept. 22.
The state report Monday identified 52 deaths, including 6 in Palm Beach County, with 2 previously cases added as fatalities for a net increase of 54.
Palm Beach County's death toll increased by a net 7 to 1,497, 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 1 to 318, Martin increased by 3 to 158, Indian River stayed at 122. Okeechobee remained at 37 deaths with its first two fatalities on July 25.
Broward increased by 5 and Miami-Dade by 7.
With a net increase of 23 deaths in South Florida of the 54 state total, which is 42.6 percent, there are 7,194, which is 44.9 percent of the state figure though the population only comprises 30 percent.
Cases have been trending up this week.
Florida's total of 756,727 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.
Palm Beach County's daily cases increased by 57 one day after 141. On Sept. 28, the rise was 27.
Florida's new hospitalizations rose by 72 compared with 77 the day before. The state reported Monday there are currently 2,055 hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, which is 46 less 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 second place with the addition of 8 deaths Monday after a state-record 324 on Aug. 11, for a total of 17,022. California reported 27 and is in third place with 16,970, which is 52 behind Texas. New Jersey, which had been second throughout the pandemic, is in fourth place with 16,214, adding 3 fatalities.
Deaths have had upward and lower trends since the pandemic in Florida. A few months ago they were averaging more than 1,200 a week with one-week figures earlier in the mid 200s.
Palm Beach County increased by 48 over seven days for 3.3 percent. The U.S. figure is 2.3 percent with the world at 3.5 percent.
Miami-Dade rose to 3,547 with 102 more in seven days. Broward increased to 1,515 with an increase of 46. St. Lucie has gone up by 14 deaths compared with Martin by 10, Indian River by 3 and Okeechobee by 4.
Palm Beach County's death count is higher than 20 states, including Kentucky's 1,326 with 9 added Monday.
Pinellas increased by 1 to 801 deaths in fourth place and Hillsborough up by 1 to 751 in fifth place, Polk by 1 to 589 in sixth, Orange by 4 to 534 in seventh and Lee by 2 to 494.
The state report Monday identified 6 deaths in Palm Beach County though the increase was 7 in one day: 5 men (62, 69, 82, 84) and a 66-year-old woman. Of these deaths the most recent case was Sept. 25. Martin added 2 women (69, 91) and an 82-year-old man. St. Lucie's was a 64-year-old man.
Cases
Since the first two cases were announced on March 1, Florida's total has surged to 3.5 percent of the state's 21.48 million population with 756,727, third in the nation and sixth in cases per million. The average over 232 days is 3,262 per day.
California has the most cases in the U.S. at 870,791 with 3,474 more Monday. Texas had 2,273 and is second overall with 828,527. New York, which was the leader during much of the pandemic, is in fourth at 485,279 with an additional 998, the first time since Oct. 5 in triple digits. Wisconsin had a U.S.-high 3,777 new cases and is in 14th overall, with two Tennessee adding 3,317 in eighth and Illinois 3,113 in fifth.
In Palm Beach County, new cases have been much lower since the record 1,171 July 5. The total now is 49,068, including residents and nonresidents.
Miami-Dade's cases were 372 compared with 461 the day before and Broward's increase was 170 vs. 287. In the Treasure Coast area, the rise over one day was Martin 8 vs. 4, St. Lucie 17 vs. 63, Indian River 9 vs. 22 and Okeechobee 1 vs. 2.
Testing
Florida's total number of people tested is 5,746,529, which is 26.8 percent of the state's population behind No. 1 California, No. 2 New York, No. 3 Texas and No. 4 Illinois. Florida is eighth lowest in the nation in tests per million: 266,557.
The overall Florida positive rate went to 13.17 percent from 13.18 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 4.15 percent compared with 4.38 the day before, a two-week high 6.04 on Oct. 5 not including the day of the data dump and a two-week low of 3.86 on Oct. 6. The rate hit 26.4 on July 8. Broward's rate was 3.76 percent after a two-week high of 4.71 and a two-week low of 2.27 on Oct. 11.
Elsewhere, St. Lucie's rate was 4.76 percent after a two-week high of 6.46 percent, not including the data dump, and a low of 2.36 Oct. 8 not including the day after the data dump. Martin's rate was 5.20 after a two-week low of 1.03 and a two-week high of 6.90 percent two days ago. Indian River's rate was 4.9 percent after a two-week high of 6.21 and a two-week low of 2.07 six days ago, not including the data dump. Okeechobee's rate was 3.23 percent on 30 negative tests after 4.08 on 47 negative tests, zero on 22 tests seven days ago and a two-week high of 8.99 four days ago, not including the data dump.
Palm Beach County has 49,068 cases out of 397,220 total tested for 12.35 percent overall, not including those awaiting tests and inconclusive.
Miami-Dade leads with 178,726 positive cases out of 991,364 tested for 18.03 percentage, and Broward is second with 81,277 cases and 616,629 tested for 13.19 percentage.
In Martin County, it's 5,181 of 40,579 for 12.77 percent. In St. Lucie, it's 8,616 out of 68,157 for 12.64 percent, Indian River with 3,551 of 40,149 for 8.84 percent and Okeechobee 1,666 of 11,843 for 14.07 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 2.7 percent worldwide, which passed 1,123,000 deaths and passed 40.6 million cases Monday, according to Worldometers.info.
Palm Beach County's rate is 3.1 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 in St. Lucie, 3.1 in Martin, 3.5 percent in Indian River and Okeechobee 2.2 percent, which is the highest ever.
Florida has 746 deaths per 1 million people, which ranks 11th in the nation, compared with the U.S. average of 680 per million. New York, which represents 15.2 percent of the deaths in the nation, has 1,722 per million. Worldwide, the figure is 144.0 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 didn't change.
Ninety-seven people from 25 to 34 also have died from the virus with no change.
A total of 5,126 people 85 and older have died in the state from the virus, an increase of 26 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 12,693 cases of infants to 4 years old, an increase of 29, and 304 were hospitalized, which didn't change. From ages 5-14, there are 32,501, an increase of 119, with 283 in the hospital at one time, which also didn't change.
From the infant to 54 age group, there are 538,556 of the 747,183 residents' cases. In that group, 1,069 have died, with an increase of 2, for a 0.20 death percentage. From infant to 64, there are 635,683 cases. A total of 2,838 have died, an increase of 8 for a 0.45 percentage.
Cities
West Palm Beach is in first place among Palm Beach County cities with 11,938 with an increase of 17. Lake Worth, which includes the city and county portion, increased by 23 to 8,147, followed by Boca Raton at 7,323 up from 7,318, Boynton Beach went to 4,327 from 4,329 and Delray Beach at 3,348 vs. 3,340. A total of 1,314 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 5,078, an increase of 7, followed by Fort Pierce at 2,952, up 11, and Stuart with 2,409, which rose by 10.
In Indian River County, Fellsmere, which has a population of 5,754, remained at 423 compared with only 3 on May 31.
Hospitalizations
A total of 37,125 people in the state have been hospitalized, a rise from 46,015 seven days ago. That means it is a running total and includes people who have been released or died.
The number is 3,984 in Palm Beach County, with a increase of 7 compared with 11 the day before. Martin increased by 2 to 415, St. Lucie by 1 to 7378, Indian River by to 325 and Okeechobee by 1 to 191.
Long-term care
Forty-one percent of the deaths, 6,496 are residents and staff of long-term care, including 674 in Palm Beach County, which is second most in the state behind 835 in Miami-Dade. The state increase was 21 and Palm Beach County went up by 1.
Nation
Since the first death was reported six months ago on Feb. 29, the national toll has risen to 220,095, a rise of 421, according to Johns Hopkins. Worldometers.info has tabulated 225,222 deaths with an increase of 442.
Cases rose to 8,210,849, including 55,255 Sunday. Friday's 69,156 was the highest since 71,302 on July 29, according to Hopkins. They have exceeded 70,000 five times, including a record 77,362 on July 16.
Last Monday in the U.S., there were 317 more deaths and 41,653 cases.
The one week U.S. death increase was 5,010 at 2.3 percent.
New York has the most deaths in the nation at 33,366, with Johns Hopkins reporting an increase of 9 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. 16 Massachusetts 14, No. 7 Illinois 22, No. 8 Pennsylvania 8, No. 9 Georgia 19 and No. 10 Michigan 16.
Also, No. 11 Arizona reported 3 deaths, as well as an additional 748 cases. No. 25 Washington, the original epicenter in the United States, reported 16.
Worldwide
The U.S. represented 10.1 percent of 4,389 additional deaths Monday and 20.1 percent of the world total though its population is only 4.3 percent of the global total.
The one week world death increase was 37,492 at 3.5 percent.
Last Monday's death increase was 3,780.
Cases increased by 337,854 after rising by more than 400,000 Friday for the first time, 412,917, according to Worldometers.info. The world has been gaining 1 million cases every three days.
Brazil has been tending down in deaths and cases. The nation, which is second behind the United States for deaths, reported 321 deaths to rise to 154,226. Brazil's record is 1,554 on July 29. The nation added 15,783 cases at 5,251,127 in third place.
India reported 55,722 cases, compared with a world-record 97,894, for second-place behind the U.S. with 7,550,273. Also, India recorded a world-high 579 deaths, behind a national-record 1,299, to rise to 114,610 and in third place.
Deaths also have been trending down in Mexico, which announced 171 more deaths late Monday compared with a high of 1,092 on June 4 for a total of 86,338 in fourth place.
Four European nations are in the top 10 as cases are surging at record levels and deaths are surging on the continent. The United Kingdom reported 80 additional deaths for 43,726 in fifth place with the daily high 1,172, as well as 18,804 cases, five days after a record 19,724. No. 6 Italy, which at one time was the world's epicenter and reached 919 in one day, reported 73 deaths and 9,338 cases one day after a record 11,705. No. 7 Spain is 172 ahead of Peru, reporting 73 deaths and 12,214 cases, behind the record 14,087 on Sept. 18. No. 9 France announced 146 deaths, as well as 13,2433 cases, one day after 29,837 and two days after a record 32,427.
No. 8 Peru announced 61 and leads France by 197. No. 10 Iran reported 337 deaths, smashing the record of 279 on Wednesday.
Russia is in fourth place in the world in cases with 1,415,316, including a record 15,982. The nation gained 179 deaths and is in 13th.
No. 21 Canada reported 18 deaths for a total of 9,778 and 3,289 cases, six days after a record 4,042. 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 5,918. Neighboring Norway reported no deaths for the fourth day in a row to remain 278, as well as 147 more cases.
No. 32 China, the original epicenter of the world, hasn’t reported a death since April 26, added 19 cases Tuesday.
