WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida's first-time coronavirus daily positivity rate increased nearly 2 percentage points to 8.28 percent, the highest since late August, and Palm Beach County rose by more than 3 points to 7.7 percent. The death toll increased by 86 deaths in one day, the most in 18 days, as new cases rose by 4,452, which is nearly 800 less than one day ago, the Florida Health Department announced Saturday.
The state considers anything above 5 percent in the "danger" threshold.
Cases have exceeded at least 4,000 in 11 of the past 12 days. Friday's increase was 5,245. Thursday's 6,257 was the highest since 6,352 on Aug. 15, not including 7,569 Sept. 1 because of a data dump.
Last Saturday, they rose by 2,331, which was the last time they were under 4,000 and the lowest since 2,144 on Oct. 21.
The increased deaths were the highest since 105 on Oct. 21, the last time they were in triple digits. They previously were the last highest 141 on Thursday, Oct. 15. The record was 276 deaths on Tuesday, Aug. 11.
Friday's increase was 53 and last Saturday's rise was 41.
Sunday's 28 deaths were the lowest since 20 one Monday ago. One Sunday ago, they rose by 12, which was the least since 5 on Sept. 23.
Palm Beach County's death increased by 3, which is second to Miami-Dade and ahead of Broward after no change Friday.
St. Lucie remained at 339, Martin rose by 1 to167 and Indian River stayed 126. Okeechobee stayed at 42 with its first two fatalities on July 25.
Broward didn't change and Miami-Dade climbed by 11.
With a net increase of 15 deaths in South Florida of the 86 state total, which is 17.4 percent, there are 7,512, which is 43.9 percent of the state figure though the population only comprises 30 percent.
The number of deaths over one week is 339, an average of 48, compared with 344 the previous week.
In one week cases have risen by 34,530 for an average of 4,933 at 4.3 percent. The previous week the increase was 26,296 with an average of 3,757. The average since the first case, which was 251 days ago, is 3,335 per day.
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.
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.
Palm Beach County's daily cases increased by 378 one day after 364. On Sept. 28, the rise was 27.
Florida's total of 837,077 cases is 8.5 percent of the total infections in the U.S., which passed 9 million on Oct. 30, though the state only comprises 6.5 percent of the population.
Cases passed 800,000 on Oct. 31, 700,000 on Sept. 27, after going above 600,000 Aug. 23, 500,000 on Aug. 5, 400,000 on July 24, 300,000 on July 15, 200,000 on July 5, 100,000 on June 22.
Florida's first-time daily infection rate of tests reported by labs Friday was the highest since 8.`19 percent on Aug. 16 and 1.95 percentage more than 6.35 the day before. The rate three days ago 7.72 three days before, also the highest since mid August. It was the eight time in 14 days and six in a row it was 6 percent or more with a low of 4.9 on Oct. 28.
Palm Beach County's percentage rate increased by 3.12 percentage points more than 4.58 the day before, which is the lowest in two weeks and broke a string of 12 days in a row 5 percent or above. Four days ago the rate was 8.36, which was the highest since 8.81 on Aug. 10, not including a date dump when it was 8.68 two weeks ago. Eleven days ago, the rate hit 8.32 percent. The rate was 1.92 on Oct. 11, which was the smallest since 1.5 percent on May 19.
The state's total daily positivity rate for all tests increased to 9.82 percent on 58,301 tests one day after 7.41 on 89,358 tests and two-week high of 9.31 percent on 61,919 tests three days ago. The two-week low was 5.95 on Oct. 24. Only 20,987 tests were reported Sept. 27 and the record test total was 142,964 July 11.
Since the first two deaths were announced on March 6, which is 246 days, the death toll has reached 17,100 for an average of 70 per day. Florida's total including nonresidents is 17,311, which increased by 1 to 211.
It took 19 days for the toll to pass from 16,000 to 17,100 on Friday. Deaths passed 16,000 residents, 16,021 on Oct. 19, which is 19 days ago. It took 12 days for Florida's death toll to go from the 15,000 milestone to 16,000, the same to surpass that figure 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. More than three months ago, July 20, there were 5,075 deaths.
State and county increases represent fatalities received by the state Friday 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: 52 on Oct. 11.
The state report Saturday identified 100 deaths with 14 previously reported cases deleted as a fatality for a net increase of 86.
Florida's new hospitalizations rose by 161 compared with 188 the day before. The state reported Saturday there are currently 2,527 hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, which was 170 more than Friday.
Deaths
Since June 16, Florida has climbed seven spots from 11th place in the nation to fourth. And the state is 12th in deaths per million.
Texas is in second place with the addition of a U.S.-high 111 deaths after a state-record 324 on Aug. 11, for a total of 18,700. California reported 73 and is in third place with 17,939. New Jersey, which had been second throughout the pandemic, is in fifth place with 16,425, adding 9 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 21 deaths over seven days for 1.3 percent. The U.S. figure is 2.8 percent with the world at 4.5 percent.
Miami-Dade rose to 3,682 with 35 more in seven days. Broward is at 1,545 with the increase of 22 in a week. St. Lucie has gone up by 3 deaths compared with Martin by 2, Indian River by 1 and Okeechobee by 4.
Palm Beach County's death count is higher than 20 states, including Kentucky's 1,561 with 17 reported Saturday.
Hillsborough moved into fourth place with 6 more deaths at 836 as Pinellas remained at 83`1 in fourth place, Hillsbourgh rose by 6 to 836 for fifth place, Polk by 1 to 638 in sixth, Orange by 15 to 591 in seventh and Lee stayed at 531 in eighth.
The state report Saturday identified two deaths in Palm Beach County though the net increase was 3 with a 62-year-old man and an 88-year-old woman. Martin reported a 94-year-old woman
Cases
Since the first two cases were announced eight months ago on March 1, Florida's total has surged to 3.9 percent of the state's 21.48 million population with 837,077 third in the nation and 13th in cases per million.
California has the most cases in the U.S. at 956,975 with 5,863 more Saturday. Texas had 7,677 and is second overall with 950,549. New York, which was the leader during much of the pandemic, is in fourth at 525,608 with an increase of 3,587, the most since 4,663 on May 2.
Twenty-three states reported at least 2,000 cases, with 10 setting state records. Four states didn't report data.
Five states in the Midwest broke records: No. 5 Illinois with a U.S.-high 12,438, No. 9 Wisconsin with 7,065, No. 14 Michigan with 6,494, No. 12 Ohio with 5,549, No. 16 Indiana with 4,899, Two other Midwest states had a high number: No. 21 Minnesota with 4,647 and Iowa with 4,363.
Five other states set records: Tennessee with 5,071, Oklahoma with 4,741, No. 28 Colorado with 3,6498, No. 16 Utah with 2,956, Kentucky with 2,103. Other states with high numbers: No. 13 Pennsylvania with 3,236, No. 7 North Carolina with 2,676
Miami-Dade's cases were 808 compared with 1,110 the day before and Broward's increase was 621 vs. 567. In the Treasure Coast area, the rise over one day was Martin 18 vs. 19, St. Lucie 46 vs. 53, Indian River 48vs. 32 and Okeechobee 14 vs. 4.
Testing
The state is no longer listing a running total of Floridians tested or total tests. Worldometers.info lists Florida with 10,453,650 total tests behind No. 1 California, No. 2 New York, No. 3 Texas and No. 4 Illinois.
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 increased to a two-week high of 8.42 percent one day after 6.94and a two-week low of 3.39 on Oct. 23. The rate hit 26.4 on July 8. Broward's rate was a two-week high of 8.22 percent after 6.10 and a two-week low of 4.29 Oct. 30.
Elsewhere, St. Lucie's rate increased to 7.12 percent one day after 6.18, a two-week high of 9.06 Oct. 26 and a low of 3.8 Oct. 25. Martin's rate was 6.46 percent after a two-week low of 2.49 percent and a two-week high of 6.95 Oct. 27. Indian River's rate was 8.39 percent after 5.63, a two-week high of 8.8 Oct. 24 and a low of 3.93 seven days ago. Okeechobee's rate was a two-week high of 19.44 percent on 58 negative tests after 7.55 on 49 negative tests and zero percent on 32 negative tests four days ago.
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 2.4 percent in the United States and 2.5 percent worldwide, which neared 1,256,000 deaths and passed 50.2 million cases Saturday, according to Worldometers.info.
Palm Beach County's rate is 3.0 percent compared with Broward at 1.7 percent and Miami-Dade with 1.9 percent. With much fewer deaths, the mortality rate is 3.6 percent in St. Lucie, 3.1 in Martin, 3.1 percent in Indian River and Okeechobee 2.3 percent.
Florida has 796 deaths per 1 million people compared with the U.S. average of 735 per million. New York, which represents 14.2 percent of the deaths in the nation, has 1,738 per million. Worldwide, the figure is 160.1 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-nine people from 25 to 34 also have died from the virus with no change.
A total of 5,458 people 85 and older have died in the state from the virus, an increase of 22 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 13,938 cases of infants to 4 years old, an increase of 81, and 331 were hospitalized, which went up by 3. From ages 5-14, there are 37,173, an increase of 272, with 308 in the hospital at one time, which increased by 2.
From the infant to 54 age group, there are 595,896 of the 825,906 residents' cases. In that group, 1,128 have died, with an increase of 8, for a 0.19 death percentage. From infant to 64, there are 703,176 cases. A total of 3,014 have died, with 13 more, for a 0.43 percentage.
Cities
West Palm Beach is in first place among Palm Beach County cities with 13,124 with an increase of 92. Lake Worth, which includes the city and county portion, increased by 46 to 8,840, followed by Boca Raton at 8,375 up from 8,327, Boynton Beach went to 4,853 from 4,809 and Delray Beach at 3,735vs. 3,717. A total of 1,741 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 5,613, an increase of 28, followed by Fort Pierce at 3,156, up 8, and Stuart with 2,556, which rose by 11.
In Indian River County, Fellsmere, which has a population of 5,754, increased by 4 to 442 compared with only 3 on May 31.
Hospitalizations
A total of 50,426 people in the state have been hospitalized, a rise from 49,338 seven days ago. That means it is a running total and includes people who have been released or died.
The number is 4,247 in Palm Beach County, with an increase of 4 compared with 13 the day before. Martin increased by 1 to 428, St. Lucie increased by 8 to 811, Indian River by 5 to 368 and Okeechobee stayed at 196.
Long-term care
Forty percent of the deaths, 6,866 are residents and staff of long-term care, including 726 in Palm Beach County, which is second most in the state behind 851 in Miami-Dade. The state increase was 20 and Palm Beach County rose by 1.
Nation
Since the first death was reported on Feb. 29, the national toll has risen to 237,019, a rise of a world-high 946 Saturday, according to Johns Hopkins. Worldometers.info has tabulated 243,257 deaths with an increase of 1,031.
Cases rose to 9,857,717, a rise of a world-high 124,801, behind a record of 126,480 a day earlier, according to Johns Hopkins. COVID Tracking Project lists the case increase as a record 128,396 one day after the previous record of 125,552. Worldometers.info has it at as 124,232 one day after a record 132,540.
Last Saturday in the U.S., there were 908 more deaths and 89,126 cases.
The one week U.S. death increase was 6,521 at 2.8 percent.
New York has the most deaths in the nation at 33,680 with Johns Hopkins reporting 16 more 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 Illinois 91, No. 7 Massachusetts 23, No. 8 Pennsylvania 37, No. 9 Georgia 39 and No. 10 Michigan 65.
Also, No. 11 Arizona reported 38 deaths, as well as an additional 2,620 cases, the most since 2,992 on Aug. 1. No. 25 Washington, the original epicenter in the United States, reported none.
Worldwide
The U.S. represented 13.9 percent of 7,436, one day after a record 9,082, and 19.4 percent of the world total though its population is only 4.3 percent of the global total.
The one week world death increase was 53,933 at 4.5 percent.
Last Saturday's death increase was 7,523.
Cases increased 598,002 one day after a record 623,311 and passing 500,00 for the first time 10 days ago and 400,000 for the first time on Oct. 15.
Brazil has been trending down in deaths and cases. The nation, which is second behind the United States for deaths, reported 251 deaths to rise to 162,286. Brazil's record is 1,554 on July 29. The nation added 21,056 cases at 5,653,561 in third place.
India reported 50,356 new cases compared with a world-record 97,894 in September, for second-place behind the U.S., with 8,462,080. Also, India recorded 577 deaths, behind a national-record 1,299, to rise to 125,562 and in third place.
Mexico announced 485 more deaths late Saturday compared with a high of 1,092 on June 4 for a total of 94,808 in fourth place.
In Europe, coronavirus is surging at record cases levels and deaths that are the highest since the spring with nations instituting lockdowns. The continent reported 3,189 deaths and 306,623 cases, the latter of which is around half of the world total.
Four European nations are in the top 10. The United Kingdom reported 413 deaths, as well as 24,957 cases one week after a record 26,684 in late October. No. 6 Italy, which at one time was the world's epicenter and reached 919 in one day, reported 425 and a record 39,811 cases. No. 7 France announced 304 deaths, one day after 828, as well as a record 86,852, shattering the one of 60,486 one day ago. No. 8 Spain reported no data one day after 347 deaths and a record 22,516 cases .
No. 9 Iran reported 423 deaths and a record 9,450 cases. No. 10 Peru added 57 deaths.
Russia is in fourth place in the world in cases with 1,753,836, including 20,396 one day after a record 20,582. The nation gained 364 deaths, which was three days after a record 389, in 13th.
No. 22 Canada reported 54 deaths for a total of 10,490 and 4,246 cases, four days after a record 4,672.
Sweden, which has been doing "herd immunity" with no lockdown, reported no dat and is at 6,022 deaths. Neighboring Norway reported no deaths to remain at 285, as well as 408 more cases.
No. 34 China, the original epicenter of the world, hasn’t reported a death since April 26, added 28 cases Sunday.
