WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida's increased coronavirus deaths diminished to 135 and new cases remained stable with 3,269 but the positivity rates moved up, the Florida Department of Health announced Thursday. Also, the total death toll, including nonresidents, passed 11,000.
On Wednesday, residents' deaths rose by 153, the ninth day in a row it was under 200, with the increase 117 one week ago. Cases were 3,220 Wednesday and it has been five straight days the figure was under 4,000.
The daily rate for 58,733 tested increased to 9.04 from 8.43 when there were 65,283 tests. The rate has been less than the target 10 percent since 10.23 on Aug. 18. The two-week low was 7.05 percent on Friday.
The first-time cases positivity rate was 6.03 percent after 5.7 the day before and 7.48 the previous day. The two-week low was 4.94 percent on Friday. The rate has been under 10 percent for 15 days and under 8 percent since Aug. 16.
In Palm Beach County, the first-time positivity rate moved to 5.22 on 3,248 negative tests after 4.13. The two week low was 3.56 Saturday and has been less than 6 percent for 10 days in a row.
The county daily cases increased by 182 compared with 160 the day before.
Palm Beach County's death toll increased by 16 to 1,094, second highest in the state behind Miami-Dade and ahead of Broward, after 12 deaths were reported Wednesday.
On the Treasure Coast, St. Lucie increased by 3 to 233. Indian River rose by 5 to 96, including a 28-year-old man, and Martin went up by 1 to 114. Okeechobee also increased by 1 to 15 after reporting its first two deaths on July 25.
Broward climbed by 9 and Miami-Dade rose by 29 deaths.
In South Florida, there were 64 of the 135 deaths – 47.4 percent – for a total of 5,067 at 46.6 percent though the population only comprises 30 percent.
Pinellas rose by 6 to 641 deaths in fourth place and Hillsborough went up by 3 to 540 in fifth place. Polk went up by 2 to 425 in sixth and Lee rose by 5 to 414
Florida is in fifth place in the United States with 10,868 deaths, and nonresident deaths increased by 4 to 143 for a total of 11,011. On June 16, Florida was in 11th place in the nation.
Texas is in fourth place with the addition of a U.S.-high 265 deaths Thursday after a state-record 324 on Aug. 11, for a total of 12,550. California reported 143 new deaths, just 8 more than Florida, and is in third place overall with 12,550.
Florida's new hospitalizations rose by 464 compared with 366 the day before. The state reported there are currently 4,398 hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, which is 109 less than the day before.
Deaths
The first two deaths were announced on March 6. It wasn't until April 24 the toll surpassed 1,000.
Tuesday's increase of 183 was the highest in one week.
The last time deaths were more than 200 was 212 on Aug. 18. The state record was 276 on Aug. 11. The previous record was 257 on July 31. Others in the 200s were 204, 228, 212, 225, 245, 252, 216.
State and county increases represent fatalities received by the state Wednesday 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: 177 on July 30.
In a state list of cases and deaths released Thursday, it reported 138 deaths from the previous report but 3 were removed after further determining a cause of death for a net gain 135.
Deaths rose by `819 in the state over seven days (a daily average of 117) for 8.2 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 55 for 5.3 percent. The U.S. figure is 3.8 percent with the world at 4.8 percent.
Miami-Dade climbed to 2,346, which is 161 more in one week. Broward increased to 1,169 with a rise of 118 in one week. Last week Broward passed Palm Beach County into second place.
Palm Beach County's death count is higher than 22 states, including Iowa's `1,084 after reporting 13 Thursday and Rhode Island's 1,044 with an additional 3.
The state on Thursday identified 17 deaths in Palm Beach County though the change was only 16: 10 men (55, 56, 67, 68, 81, 83, 83, 87, 88, 92) and 7 women (76, 78, 90, 93, 96, 98, 98). St. Lucie reported 3 men (63, 89, 90) and an 82-year-old woman. Indian River added 4 women (74, 81, 81, 926) and a 28-year-old man. Martin's death was a 84-year-old woman and Okeechobee's was an 82-year-old woman.
Cases
Since the first two cases were announced on March 1, Florida's total has surged to 2.8 percent of the state's 21.48 million population with 611,991, second in the nation.
In one week, cases have risen by 23,389 at 4.0 percent, a percentage that has been steadily decreasing.
Three weeks ago, Florida became the second state to pass 500,000 cases.
California has the most cases in the U.S. at 683,529 with the addition of 4,430, the second most in the U.S. on Thursday. Texas had the most new cases, 5,059, and is third overall with 597,737. New York, which was the leader during much of the pandemic, is in fourth at 432,131 with 891 more.
Florida's daily case increases have been below 10,000 since July 26 when they climbed by 12,199.
For 12 days, the state's cases have been below 5,000.
Cases in Florida 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.
The cases record was 15,300 was July 5 – the highest daily figure ever in the United States. The second highest is 13,965 on July 16.
In Palm Beach County, new cases have been much lower since the record 1,171 July 5. The total now is 41,195, including residents and nonresidents.
Miami-Dade's cases were 622 compared with 750, and Broward's increase was 264 vs. 299. In the Treasure Coast area, the rise over one day was 49 in St. Lucie, 49 in Martin, 21 in Indian River and 1 in Okeechobee.
Testing
Florida's total now is 4,524,203, fourth in the nation, behind No. 1 New York, No. 2 California and No. 3 Texas. That Florida figure is 21.1 percent of Florida's population, though some people tested more than once.
The overall positive rate was 13.53 percent Thursday, the same as the day before.
The daily rate at one time was around 2-3 percent but has risen to 9.04 in daily tests.. The two-week high was 16.43 on Aug. 11. The record is 20.71 percent on July 8 when there were 51,686 tests.
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 has stayed below 8 percent for two days in a row: 7.76 after 7.66, and has remained under 9 percent for eight days. The highest was 26.4 on July 8. In Broward, the rate has been below 6 percent for six days, including the most recent 5.93 percent after 5.93 and a two-week low of 4.23 on Sunday.
Elsewhere, St. Lucie's rate declined to 5.59 percent from 6.14 and a two-week low of 3.66 on Friday though it spiked to 14.12 on Monday. Martin's rate rose to 7.80 percent from 7.80 and a two-week low of 2.59 on Aug. 14. Indian River's rate was 5.22 after 4.06 and a two-week low of 1.67 on Sunday. Okeechobee's rate was 3.95 on 73 negative tests and 1 positive one after after 5.08 on 56 negative tests and a two-week high of 11.96 on 81 negative tests,
Palm Beach County has 41,195 cases out of 314,752 total tested for 13.09 percent overall, not including those awaiting tests and inconclusive. Anything 10.0 percent and above is considered out of "target range" by the health department.
Miami-Dade leads with 154,757 positive cases out of 796,479 tested for 19.43 percent, and Broward is second with 70,147 cases and 491,687 tested for 14.27 percentage.
In Martin County, it's 4,222 of 29,035 for 14.54 percent. In St. Lucie, it's 6,822 out of 49,528 for 13.77 percent, Indian River with 2,801 of 30,163 for 9.29 percent and Okeechobee 1,211 of 9,705 for 12.48 percent.
Mortality rate
The mortality rate compares positive cases against deaths.
The state's rate is 1.8 percent for all deaths and cases, including nonresidents, compared with 3.1 percent in the United States and 3.4 percent worldwide, which neared 835,000 deaths and passed 24.6 million cases Thursday.
Palm Beach County's rate was 2.7 percent, compared with Broward at 1.7 percent and Miami-Dade with 1.5 percent. With much fewer deaths, the mortality rate is 3.4 percent in St. Lucie, 2.7 percent in Martin, 3.4 percent in Indian River and 1.2 percent in Okeechobee.
Florida has 506 deaths per 1 million people compared with the U.S. average of 558 per million. New York, which represents 17.9percent of the deaths in the nation, has 1,696 per million. Worldwide, the figure is 107.1 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, among 4 in the 5-14 age class.
Four other juveniles are among the 27 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.
There were no increases in the two youngest classes.
Seventy-three people from 25 to 34 also have died from the virus, which rose by 3.
A total of 3,504 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 10,309 cases of infants to 4 years old, an increase of 62, and 240 were hospitalized, which rose by 2 From ages 5-14, there are 24,903, an increase of 325 with 210 in the hospital at one time, which went up by 2.
From the infant to 54 age group, 436,295 of the 605,342 residents tested. In that group, 766 have died, an increase of 14, for a 0.18 death percentage. From infant to 64, there are 515,563 cases. A total of 1,937 have died, an increase of 29, for a 0.38 percentage.
Cities
West Palm Beach is in first place among Palm Beach County cities with 10,269, an increase of 79. Lake Worth, which includes the city and county portion, rose 29 to 7,169, followed by Boca Raton at 5,613 up from 5,591, Boynton Beach at 3,685 from 3,677 and Delray Beach at 2,815 vs. 2,803. A total of 897 in the county not designated by a city.
Port St. Lucie leads the Treasure Coast with 4,010, an increase of 27 followed by Fort Pierce at 2,466, up 19, and Stuart with 2,001, which was an increase of 22.
In Indian River County, Fellsmere, which has a population of 5,754, increased by 2 cases to 39 compared with only 3 on May 31.
Hospitalizations
A total of 37,718 people in the state have been hospitalized, a rise from 35,650 seven days ago. That means it is a running total and includes people who have been released or died.
The number is 3,230 in Palm Beach County, an increase of 37 compared with 38 the day before; 373 in Martin, which increased by 3; 460 in St. Lucie with a rise of 6, Indian River went up by 4 to 247 and Okeechobee went from 129 to 130.
Long-term care
Forty-two percent of the deaths, 4,587 are residents and staff of long-term care, including 464 in Palm Beach County, which is second most in the state behind 693 in Miami-Dade. The state increase was 57 and in Palm Beach County it went up by 7.
National
Since the first death was reported five months ago on Feb. 29, the toll has risen to 184,796, an increase of a world-high 1,143 on Thursday, according to Worldometers.info.
Johns Hopkins reports 179,708, a gain of 1,013.
Cases reached 6,046,634 with an increase of 46,286, according to Worldometers.info. They have exceeded 70,000 seven times, including a record 78,446 on July 24.
Last Thursday in the U.S., there were 1,097 more deaths and 45,357 more cases.
The one week U.S. death increase was 6,760 at 3.8 percent.
New York has the most deaths in the nation at 32,994, with 7 reported Thursday, after a high of 799 in April.
Among other states in the top 10 for deaths: No. 2 New Jersey 6, No. 6 Massachusetts 21, No. 7 Illinois 23, No. 8 Pennsylvania 12, No. 9 Michigan 16, No. 10 Georgia 82.
Also, No. 12 Arizona announced 33 new deaths and 680 additional cases on 9,150 tests. No. 18 South Carolina reported 55 additional deaths and No. 23 Washington, the original epicenter in the United States, had 10.
Worldwide
The U.S. represented 18.9 percent of the 6,057 additional deaths Thursday and 22.1 percent of the world total though its population is only 4.3 percent of the global total. The one week world death increase was 38,541 at 4.8 percent.
Last Thursday's death increase was 6,206.
Cases increased by 273,303, behind a record 289,648 on July 24.
Brazil, which is second behind the United States for deaths, reported 970 deaths to rise to 118,726. Brazil's record is 1,554 on July 29. The nation added 42,489 cases for a total of 3,764,493 and only behind the U.S.
Mexico reported 518 more deaths late Thursday compared with a high of 1,092 on June 4 for a total of 579,914 in third place.
India added 1,065 deaths to rise to 61,694 in fourth place. The Asian nation also reported a record 76,826 cases for a third-place total of 3,384,575, behind the U.S. and Brazil.
Four European nations are in the top 10. The United Kingdom reported an additional 12 deaths for 41,477 in fifth place with the record daily high 1,172. No. 6 Italy, which at one time was the world's epicenter and reached 919 in one day, reported 5 deaths. No. 7 France reported 2 deaths and 6,111 cases, the highest since 7,578 on March 31, and No. 8 Spain 25 deaths.
No. 9 Peru gained 153 and No. 10 Iran had 117.
Russia is in fourth place in the world in cases with 975,576, including an additional 4,711. The nation gained 121 deaths and is in 12th.
No. 17 Canada reported 8 deaths to rise to 9,102, as well as 431 cases.
Sweden, which has been doing "herd immunity," reported 5 deaths and has 5,820 total. Neighboring Norway announced zero deaths for the seventh day in a row to remain at 264 deaths, as well as 38 more cases.
No. 28 China, the original epicenter of the world, hasn’t reported a death since April 26, and added 9 cases Friday.
Japan reported 17 deaths, tied with the most since June 20, for a total of 1,226, as well as 846 cases Thursday.
