WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida's new coronavirus cases rose by 1,838 – the lowest since mid-June – as deaths continued a downward trend with an increase of 22, and the first-time positivity rate remained under 5 percent in the state and in Palm Beach County it dropped to 3.11 percent, the Florida Health Department announced Monday.
The increased state deaths were the lowest since 14 Sunday, Aug. 30. For four days the daily change has dropped – 38 on Sunday after 61 Saturday, 100 Friday and 149 Thursday. Last Monday's increase was 68.
Cases have been under 2,000 only one other time in three months –1,885 last Monday and they have been under 3,000 seven times since then. On June 15, cases increased 1,758.
Palm Beach County's death total rose by 2 to 1,168, second highest in the state behind Miami-Dade and ahead of Broward, after 4 deaths were reported Sunday.
On the Treasure Coast, one death was reported – St. Lucie rising to 246. For the second day in a row, Martin remained at 120 and Indian River at 104. Okeechobee is at 20 with its first two deaths on July 25.
Broward increased by 5 and Miami-Dade rose by 3.
Since the first two deaths were announced on March 6, the death toll has climbed to 11,871 of residents and 12,023 including 152 nonresidents, which didn't change.
The state's daily first-time positivity rate of cases was 4.55 percent compared with 4.97 the day before – the fourth day in a row it has been under 6 percent with the high 7.49 on Aug. 24. Palm Beach County's rate was a two-week low, which was .70 lower than 3.81 the day before. The two-week high was 4.99 on Aug. 23. On Tuesday the county moves into Phase Two reopening after the encouraging data.
The daily rate for all tests dropped to 6.34 percent on 46.390 tests reported by the labs to the state Sunday compared with 6.59 on 56,756 tests. The two-week high was 6.95 percent three days earlier and the high was 10.32 percent with the Quest Diagnostics data dump Tuesday.
In South Florida, there were 11 of the 22 deaths, 50 percent, for a total of 5,532 at 46.6 percent though the population only comprises 30 percent.
Pinellas rose by 1 to 673 deaths in fourth place and Hillsborough remained at 562 in fifth place. Polk increased by 1 to 469 in sixth and Lee stayed at 438.
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 a 20 deaths Monday after a state-record 324 on Aug. 11, for a total of 13,492. California reported 17 new deaths and is in third place overall with 13,726.
Palm Beach County's daily cases increased by 120 after 162 the day before and 100 one week ago.
Florida's new hospitalizations rose by 59 compared with 112 the day before. The state reported Monday there are currently 3,160 hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, which is 4 less than the day before.
Deaths
It took 49 days for the death toll to reach the first 1,000 yet it was only 40 days to more than double.
The last time deaths were more than 200 was 212 on Aug. 18. The state record was 276 on 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: 147 on Aug. 10.
In a state list of cases and deaths released Monday, it reported 1 deaths was removed after further determining a cause of death.
Deaths rose by 684 in the state over seven days (a daily average of 98) for 6.1 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 rose by 49 for 4.0 percent. The U.S. figure is 3.0 percent with the world at 4.5 percent.
Miami-Dade climbed to 2,658, which is 219 more in one week. Broward increased to 1,220 with a rise of 36 in one week. St. Lucie has risen by 11 deaths in one week compared with Indian River climbing by 6 deaths, Martin by 2 and Okeechobee by 5.
Palm Beach County's death count is higher than 21 states and is tied with Iowa, which added 3 deaths and Wisconsin that gained none.
The state on Monday identified 2 deaths in Palm Beach County: a 57-year-old man and a 76-year-old woman. St. Lucie's additional death was a 80-year-old man.
Cases
Since the first two cases were announced on March 1, Florida's total has surged to 3.0 percent of the state's 21.48 million population with 648,269, second in the nation. The average over six months is 3,412 per day.
In one week, cases have risen by 24,798, which average 3,542 per day, at 4.0 percent, a percentage that has been steadily decreasing.
Cases passed 600,000 Aug. 23 and 500,000 on Aug. 5.
California has the most cases in the U.S. at 735,726 with the addition of a U.S.-high 3,091. Texas had 2,057, and is third overall with 640,370. New York, which was the leader during much of the pandemic, is in fourth at 440,021 with 520 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 43,187, including residents and nonresidents.
Miami-Dade's cases were 274 compared with 345 and Broward's increase was 133 vs. 181. In the Treasure Coast area, the rise over one day was 33 in St. Lucie, 3 in Martin County, 9 in Indian River and 1 in Okeechobee.
Testing
Florida's total number of people tested is 4,808,756, fourth in the nation, behind No. 1 New York, No. 2 California and No. 3 Texas. That Florida figure is 22.4 percent of Florida's population.
The overall positive rate was 13.48 percent, compared with 13.49 the day before.
The daily rate at one time was around 2-3 percent. The two-week high was 11.35 on Aug. 24 and the record is 20.71 percent on July 8.
The record test total was 142,964 July 11.
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 a two-week low of 5.02 percent after 6.15. The highest was 26.4 on July 8. Broward's rate of 3.19 percent was a two-week low after 3.58 the day before and the 11th day in a row it was under 5 percent excluding the Quest data dump and a high of 5.82 on Aug. 26.
Elsewhere, St. Lucie's rate was 5.92 percent after 5.81 and a two-week low of 4.04 on Wednesday and a high of 13.98 on Aug. 24. Martin's rate was 2.88 after a two-week low of 2.59, 2.85 three days ago and a two-week high of 12.0 Aug. 27. Indian River's rate was 4.31 percent after two days under 2 – 1.81 then 1.65 – and a high of 6.78 on Aug. 24. Okeechobee's rate was 2.86 on 34 tests after 6.15 percent on 61 negative tests, 0 on 26 negative tests Aug. 23 and a high of 11.11 on Aug. 31 on 40 negative tests, including the Quest data dump.
Palm Beach County has 43,187 cases out of 336,552 total tested for 12.83 percent overall, not including those awaiting tests and inconclusive.
Miami-Dade leads with 161,637 positive cases out of 840,609 tested for 19.23 percent, and Broward is second with 73,426 cases and 523,216 tested for 14.03 percentage.
In Martin County, it's 4,551 of 31,904 for 14.26 percent. In St. Lucie, it's 7,341 out of 54,275 for 13.53 percent, Indian River with 2,911 of 32,152 for 9.05 percent and Okeechobee 1,284 of 10,141 for 12.66 percent.
Mortality rate
The mortality rate compares positive cases against deaths.
The state's rate is 1.9 percent for all deaths and cases, including nonresidents, compared with 3.0 percent in the United States and 3.3 percent worldwide, which neared 891,000 deaths and passed 27.2 million cases Monday, according to Johns Hopkins.
Palm Beach County's rate was 2.7 percent, compared with Broward at 1.7 percent and Miami-Dade with 1.7 percent. With much fewer deaths, the mortality rate is 3.4 percent in St. Lucie, 2.7 percent in Martin, 3.6 percent in Indian River and 1.6 percent in Okeechobee.
Florida has 552 deaths per 1 million people compared with the U.S. average of 585 per million. New York, which represents 17.4 percent of the deaths in the nation, has 1,701 per million. Worldwide, the figure is 114.9 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 29 deaths in the 15-24 class: 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 did not change.
Eighty-two people from 25 to 34 also have died from the virus with no change.
A total of 3,854 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 10,961 cases of infants to 4 years old, an increase of 36, and 250 were hospitalized, which went up by 1. From ages 5-14, there are 26,712, an increase of 87 with 226 in the hospital at one time, which didn't change.
From the infant to 54 age group, 461,238 of the 640,978 residents' cases. In that group, 815 have died, with an increase of 5, for a 0.18 death percentage. From infant to 64, there are 544,958 cases. A total of 2,089 have died, an increase of 7, for a 0.38 percentage.
Cities
West Palm Beach is in first place among Palm Beach County cities with 10,752 with an increase of 16. Lake Worth, which includes the city and county portion, rose 17 to 7,498 followed by Boca Raton at 6,015, up from 5,989, Boynton Beach at 3,830 from 3,821 and Delray Beach at 2,964 vs. 2,953. A total of 961 in the county not designated by a city.
Port St. Lucie leads the Treasure Coast with 4,299, an increase of 12 followed by Fort Pierce at 2,636, up 21, and Stuart with 2,128, which was an increase of 1.
In Indian River County, Fellsmere, which has a population of 5,754, remained at 397 compared with only 3 on May 31.
Hospitalizations
A total of 40,083 people in the state have been hospitalized, a rise from 38,495 seven days ago. That means it is a running total and includes people who have been released or died.
The number is 3,424 in Palm Beach County, a rise of 2 compared with no change the day before; 382 in Martin, which didn't change; 529 in St. Lucie with no increase, Indian River went up by 1 to 267 and Okeechobee remained at 140.
Long-term care
Forty-two percent of the deaths, 4,954, are residents and staff of long-term care, including 505 in Palm Beach County, which is second most in the state behind 731 in Miami-Dade. The state increase was 13 and in Palm Beach County it went up by 3.
National
Since the first death was reported six months ago on Feb. 29, the toll has risen to 189,182, a gain of 241, according to Johns Hopkins.
Cases reached 6,300,075 with an increase of 33,710. 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 553 more deaths and 54,156 cases.
The one week U.S. death increase was 5,585 at 3.0 percent.
New York has the most deaths in the nation at 33,002 with 15 reported Monday, after a high of 799 in April.
Among other states in the top 10 for deaths: No. 2 New Jersey 2, No. 6 Massachusetts 8, No. 7 Illinois 8, No. 8 Pennsylvania `18, No. 9 Michigan 4, No. 10 Georgia 7.
Also, No. 11 Arizona reported no deaths, as well as an additional 198 cases. No. 23 Washington, the original epicenter in the United States, reported no. deaths
Worldwide
The U.S. represented 3.2 percent of the 7,632 additional deaths Monday and 21.2 percent of the world total though its population is only 4.3 percent of the global total. The one week world death increase was 40,436 at 4.5 percent.
Last Monday's death increase was 4,196
Cases increased by 145,473 after a record 304,626 on Friday.
Brazil, which is second behind the United States for deaths, initially reported 315 deaths to rise to 127,001. Brazil's record is 1,554 on July 29. The nation added 10,188 cases at 4,147,794.
India moved into second place in cases past Brazil and behind the U.S. at 4,204,613 with the addition of a world-record 90,802. India reported 1,016 additional deaths to rise to 71,642 and in third place.
Mexico announced 223 more deaths late Monday compared with a high of 1,092 on June 4 for a total of 67,781 in fourth place.
Four European nations are in the top 10. The United Kingdom reported 3 additional deaths for 41,554 in fifth place with the record daily high 1,172 but 2,948 cases, just behind 2,988 cases the day before, the highest since 3,201 on May 17. No. 6 Italy, which at one time was the world's epicenter and reached 919 in one day, reported 12 deaths. No. 7 France had 25 and No. 9 Spain 32.
No. 8 Peru gained 151 deaths Sunday and No. 10 Iran had 117 Monday.
Russia is in fourth place in the world in cases with 1,030,690, including an additional 5,185. The nation gained 51 deaths and is in 12th.
No. 19 Canada reported 1 death to rise to 9,144 and 247 cases.
Sweden, which has been doing "herd immunity," reported 5 deaths and has 5,837 total. Neighboring Norway announced zero deaths for the 18th day in a row to remain at 264 deaths, as well as 74 more cases.
No. 28 China, the original epicenter of the world, hasn’t reported a death since April 26, and added `10 cases Tuesday.
Japan reported 6 deaths for a total of 1,363 Monday.