WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida's coronavirus newly reported deaths dropped to 117 but passed 10,000 among residents, just one month after surpassing 5,000, as cases remained among the lowest in two months, 4,555, the Florida Department of Health announced Thursday.
In good news, the daily positivity rate from tests received Wednesday dropped under the target 10 percent, 9.98 percent. Also the first-time cases rate dipped below 7 percent, 6.78, which was the lowest since 5.3 on June 14.
Total daily tests have remained under 100,000 for two weeks with the latest, 77,172. The positivity rate the day before was 10.24 when there were 67,839 tests. The first-time cases positivity has been under 9 percent for seven days in a row: 7.06, then 7.88, 8.20, 7.74, 7.66, 8.06.
In Palm Beach County, the first-time positivity rate remained under 6.0 percent for the third day in a row – 5.28 after 5.71 and 5.64 percent. The rate has been under 8 percent for all but one day over two weeks, 8.79 percent on Aug. 10. The number of total negative tests reported Wednesday was 4,080 with people who previously tested positive excluded. Also, the county daily cases increased by 234 compared with 192 the day before.
Palm Beach County's death toll rose by 17 to 1,039 after 14 the day before in third place behind Broward.
St. Lucie County increased by 4 to 212 while Martin rose by 5 to 109 after five days of no deaths. Indian River went up by 2 to 69 after three consecutive days of no fatalities. Okeechobee, which reported its first 2 fatalities on July 25, stayed at 12 for 12 days in a row. On Monday, all four of those counties reported no deaths as well as Palm Beach County.
Broward increased by 2 and Miami-Dade rose by 9 deaths.
In South Florida, there were 39 of the 117 deaths – 33.3 percent – for a total of 4,667 at 46.5 percent though the population only comprises 30 percent.
Florida is in fifth place in the United States with 10,049 deaths, and nonresident deaths increased by 2 to 137 for a total of 10,186. On June 16, Florida was in 11th place in the nation.
Texas is in fourth place with the addition of a U.S.-high 234 deaths after a state-record 324 on Aug. 11, for a total of 10,793. California reported 163 new deaths, which was the second most Thursday, and is in third place overall with 11,686.
Florida's new hospitalizations rose by 450 compared with 505 the day before.
Deaths
The first two deaths were announced on March 6. It wasn't until April 24 the toll surpassed 1,000. The toll passed 3,000 on June 17 and 5,000 on July 20. It hit 6,000 eight days later, 7,000 four days later on Aug. 1 then 8,000 one week later and 9,000 six days later last Friday.
For two days in a row, deaths have been under 200 with Wednesday's fatalities 174.
Tuesday's death increase of 212, the ninth time they surpassed 200. The state record was 276 on Tuesday, Aug. 11. The previous record was 257 on July 31. Others in the 200s were 228, 212, 225, 245, 252, 216.
The deaths from the weekend were lower: 87 Monday and 107 Sunday.
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. So far, the most deaths occurred on July 25 with 178.
In the state report Thursday it reported 117 deaths with none removed after further determining a cause of death.
Pinellas rose by 5 to 587 deaths in fourth place and Hillsborough went up by 4 to 512 in fifth place. Polk rose by 7 to 396 in sixth and Lee increased by 4 to 393.
Deaths rose by `1,136 in the state over seven days (a daily average of 162) for 12.6 percent and in Palm Beach County it was 75 for 7.8 percent. Two months ago the one-week U.S. figure was in the mid 200s. The U.S. figure is 4.1 percent with the world at 5.2 percent.
Miami-Dade climbed to 2,185, which is 231 more in one week. Broward increased to 1,051 with a rise of 168 in one week.
Palm Beach County's death count is higher than 22 states, including Rhode Island's 1,028 after gaining 1 and Iowa's 1,014 after reporting 8.
The state on Thursday identified 17 deaths: 12 men (62, 68, 70, 71, 81, 83, 84, 85, 85, 86, 89, 90) and 5 women (69, 81, 83, 86, 99). St. Lucie's additions were 2 men (64, 87) and 2 women (73, 85). Martin reported 3 men all older than 90 (93, 96, 99) and two women 76, 84). Indian River added a 76-year-old man and an 83-year-of woman.
Cases
Since the first two cases were announced on March 1, Florida's total has surged to 2.7 percent of the state's 21.48 million population with 588,602, second in the nation.
In one week, cases have risen by 31,465 at 5.6 percent, a percentage that has been steadily decreasing.
Two weeks ago Wednesday, Florida became the second state to pass 500,000 cases.
California has the most cases in the U.S. at 644,731 with the addition of 5,920, most in the U.S. on Thursday. Texas had the second-most new cases, 4,923, and is third overall with 562,559. New York, which was the leader during much of the pandemic, is in fourth at 427,803 with 601 more.
Florida's cases have been below 10,000 since July 26 when they climbed by 12,199.
For the past five days the state's cases have been below 5,000: 3,779 Sunday, 2,678 Monday, 3,858 Tuesday, 4,115 Wednesday. The last time cases were lower were 2,610 on June 17 and 1,758 on June 15.
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 39,886, including residents and nonresidents.
Miami-Dade's cases increased 1,169 compared with 1,103 the day before. Broward's increase was 714 vs. 341. In the Treasure Coast area, the rise over one day was 78 in St. Lucie, 18 in Martin, 14 in Indian River and 8 in Okeechobee.
Testing
Florida's total now is 4,342,418, fourth in the nation, behind No. 1 New York, No. 2 California and No. 3 Texas. That Florida figure is 20.2 percent of Florida's population, though some people tested more than once.
The overall positive rate was 13.55 percent Thursday compared with 13.54 Wednesday.
The daily rate at one time was around 2-3 percent but has risen to 9.98. The high was 16.44 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 figure has dropped under 10 percent for two days in a row, the only time in two weeks, 9.65 after 9.73. The highest was 26.4 on July 8. In Broward, the percentage increased to 7.28 after a two-week low of 6.02 the day before.
Elsewhere, St. Lucie's rate increased to 7.68 after two days under 7, 6.64 and then 6.87 but much lower than 15.9 Saturday and 14.2 Sunday. Martin dropped significantly in one day from 11.79 to 5.79 though the 14-day low was 2.59 on Friday. Indian River has been 5.0 six days in a row, most recently 3.72 after 3.29, the lowest in two weeks. Okeechobee's rate was 3.90 after a two-week low of 1.10 though the two-week high of 30.2 was on Aug. 6 among only 60 positive tests.
Palm Beach County has 39,886 cases out of 301,931 total tested for 13.21 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 149,162 positive cases out of 763,826 tested for 19.53 percent, and Broward is second with 68,086 cases and 474,604 tested for 14.34 percentage.
In Martin County, it's 4,015 of 27,094 for 14.82 percent. In St. Lucie, it's 6,458 out of 46,877 for 13.78 percent, Indian River with 2,693 of 28,989 for 9.29 percent and Okeechobee 1,177 of 9,058 for 12.99 percent.
Mortality rate
The mortality rate compares positive cases against deaths.
It is 1.7 percent in the state for all deaths and cases, including nonresidents, compared with 3.1 percent in the United States and 3.5 percent worldwide, which passed 796,000 deaths and neared 22.9 million cases Thursday.
Palm Beach County's rate was 2.6 percent, compared with Broward at 1.6 percent and Miami-Dade with 1.5 percent. With much fewer deaths, the mortality rate is 3.3 percent in St. Lucie, 2.7 percent in Martin, 2.6 percent in Indian River and 1.0 percent in Okeechobee.
Florida has 468 deaths per 1 million people compared with the U.S. average of 536 per million. New York, which represents 18.6 percent of the deaths in the nation, has 1,693 per million. Worldwide, the figure is 102.2 per million.
Age breakdown
The median age for all deaths in Florida is 79.
The youngest deaths are a 9-year-old girl from Putnam as well as the two 11-year-olds, a boy in Miami-Dade and a girl in Broward, who are the only three in the 5-14 age class.
There are 24 deaths in the 15-24 class with no change. The youngest in Palm Beach County is a 22-year-old woman.
Sixty-eight people from 25 to 34 also have died from the virus, which was an increase of 3.
A total of 3,247 people 85 and older have died in the state from the virus, an increase of 40 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 9,901 9,794 cases of infants to 4 years old, an increase of 106, and 225 were hospitalized, which was an increase of 5. From ages 5-14, there are 23,669, an increase of 257 with 200 in the hospital at one time, which rose by 3.
From the infant to 54 age group, 420,683 of the 582,407 residents tested. In that group, 718 have died, an increase of 8, for a 0.17 death percentage. From infant to 64, there are 496,690 cases. A total of 1,792, an increase of 22, have died for a 0.36 percentage.
Cities
West Palm Beach is in first place among Palm Beach County cities with 9,893 an increase of 63. Lake Worth, which includes the city and county portion, rose 27 to 6,970, followed by Boca Raton at 5,442, up from 5,405, Boynton Beach at 3,570 from 3,545 and Delray Beach at 2,698 vs. 2,686. A total of 863 in the county not designated by a city.
Port St. Lucie leads the Treasure Coast with 3,775, an increase of 46, followed by Fort Pierce at 2,360, up 24, and Stuart with 1,918, which was an increase of 5.
In Indian River County, Fellsmere, which has a population of 5,754, remained at 382 compared with only 3 on May 31.
Hospitalizations
A total of 35,6500 people in the state have been hospitalized, a rise from 32,537 seven days ago. That means it is a running total and includes people who have been released or died.
The number is 3,114 Palm Beach County, an increase of 31 compared with 25 the day before; 361 in Martin, which was an increase of 2; 411 in St. Lucie with a rise of 7, Indian River increased by 4 to 229 and Okeechobee went from 119 to 123.
Long-term care
Forty-two percent of the deaths, 4,232 are residents and staff of long-term care, including 435 in Palm Beach County, which is second most in the state behind 666 in Miami-Dade. The state increase was 53 and in Palm Beach County it went up by 11.
National
Since the first death was reported five months ago on Feb. 29, the toll has risen to 176,337, an increase of 1,090 on Thursday, according to Worldometers.info.
Johns Hopkins reports 172,970, a gain of 1,278.
Cases reached 5,746,272 with an increase of 45,341, 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 1,284 more deaths and 54,780 more cases.
The one week U.S. death increase was 7,009 at 4.1 percent.
New York has the most deaths in the nation with 32,937, with 3 reported Thursday, after a high of 799 in April.
Among other states in the top 10 for deaths: No. 2 New Jersey 7, No. 6 Massachusetts 12, No. 7 Illinois 27, No. 8 Pennsylvania 14, No. 9 Michigan 16, No. 10 Georgia 55.
Also, No. 11 Arizona reported 50. No. 23 Washington, the original epicenter in the United States, had 15.
Worldwide
The U.S. represented 17.6 percent of the 6,188 additional deaths Thursday and 22.3 percent of the world total though its population is only 4.3 percent of the global total. The one week world death increase was 39,444 at 5.1 percent.
Last Thursday's death increase was 6,562.
Cases increased by 267,794, behind a record 289,648 on July 24.
Brazil, which is second behind the United States for deaths, reported 1,234 after a record 1,554 on July 29 at 112,423. Brazil added 44,684 cases for a total of 3,505,097 and only behind the U.S.
Mexico reported 717 more deaths late Thursday compared with a high of 1,092 on June 4 for a total of 58,481 in third place.
India added 981 deaths to rise to 54,975 in fourth place. The Asian nation also reported 68,507 cases for a third-place total of 2,766,026 behind the U.S. and Brazil.
Four European nations are in the top 10. The United Kingdom reported an additional 6 deaths for 41,403 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 6 deaths. No. 7 France added 11 but 4,771 cases, the highest since 4,181 on May 6. No. 8 Spain announced 16 deaths.
No. 9 Peru gained 200 and No. 10 Iran had 139.
Russia is in fourth place in the world in cases with 942,106, including an additional 4,785. The nation gained 110 deaths but dropped to 12th behind Colombia, which added 204.
No. 17 Canada reported 5 deaths to rise to 9,054, as well as 383 cases.
Sweden, which has been doing "herd immunity," reported 5 deaths and has 5,805. Neighboring Norway announced 2 deaths to rise to 264 deaths, as well as 35 more cases.
No. 27 China, the original epicenter of the world, hasn’t reported a death since April 26 and added 22 cases Friday.
Japan reported 16 for a total of 1,128.
