WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida's increased coronavirus deaths surged to 148 as total residents' toll passed 11,000 as cases increased by 3,197, the seventh day in a row they were under 4,000, and the first-time daily positivity rate dropped under 5 percent, the Florida Department of Health announced Saturday.
The state's new deaths had been trending down the past four days: 183 Tuesday, 153 Wednesday, 135 Thursday, 89 Friday.
It took 10 days for the toll to rise from 10,000 to 11,105. Previously, it took 4 days to go from 9,000 past 10,000. On July 25, there were 5,075 deaths. The first two deaths in the state were announced on March 6. In the United States, it has been exactly six months since the first death was announced on Feb. 29 and it has reached 186,855 with an average of 1,027 per day.
Florida's cases' increase Friday was 3,815. In all the case have been under 5,000 for 17 days in a row.
The daily rate for 72,577 tested decreased to 7.13 percent from 8.49 when there were 75,372 tests reported from labs to the state Friday. The two-week low was 7.05 percent on Aug. 21.
The first-time cases positivity rate was 4.97 percent – close to the two-week low of 4.93 on Aug. 21 – after 5.69 the previous day. Those were the only days over two weeks the rate has been below 5 percent. The rate has been under 8 percent since Aug. 16.
In Palm Beach County, the first-time positivity rate dropped significantly from 6.11 to 4.45 percent on 4,403 negative tests. Thursday's figure was the first time it was above 6 percent in 12 days. The two week low was 3.56 Saturday and has been less than 6 percent for 12 days in a row.
The county daily cases increased by 172 compared with 363 the day before.
Palm Beach County's death toll passed 1,100 rising by 18 to 1,117, second highest in the state behind Miami-Dade and ahead of Broward, after 5 deaths were reported Friday.
On the Treasure Coast, Indian River was the only county to report a death, rising by 1 to 98. St. Lucie remained at 235 and Martin at 114. Okeechobee stayed at 15 after reporting its first two deaths on July 25.
Broward climbed by 8 and Miami-Dade rose by 27 deaths.
In South Florida, there were 27 of the 148 – 18.2 percent – for a total of 5,134 at 46.2 percent though the population only comprises 30 percent.
Pinellas rose by 5 to 650 deaths in fourth place and Hillsborough went up by 4 to 545 in fifth place. Polk went up by 13 to 442 in sixth and Lee rose by 1 to 418
Florida is in fifth place in the United States with 11,105 deaths, and nonresident deaths increased by 2 to 144 for a total of 11,249. On June 16, Florida was in 11th place in the nation.
Texas is in fourth place with the addition of a U.S.-high 154 deaths Saturday after a state-record 324 on Aug. 11, for a total of 12,420. California reported 144 new deaths, just 4 behind Florida, and is in third place overall with 12,834.
Florida's new hospitalizations rose by 285 compared with 311 the day before. The state reported Saturday there are currently 3,993 hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, which is 405 less than the day before.
Deaths
Deaths in the state have accelerated over nearly six months since the first fatalities were announced. It took 49 days for the death toll to reach the first 1,000 yet it was only 40 days to more than double with an increase of 6,000 now. The average number of deaths per day in Florida is 63.
The rise last Saturday was 106.
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 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: 184 on July 30.
In a state list of cases and deaths released Saturday, it reported 149 deaths from the previous report but 1 was removed after further determining a cause of death for a net gain 89.
Deaths rose by `831 in the state over seven days (a daily average of 119) for 8.1 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 58 for 5.5 percent. The U.S. figure is 3.7 percent with the world at 4.7 percent.
Miami-Dade climbed to 2,399, which is 161 more in one week. Broward increased to 1,183 with a rise of 95 in one week. Last week Broward passed Palm Beach County into second place. Indian River has risen by 20 deaths in one week, a 25.6 percent increase compared with St. Lucie rising by 21 deaths, Martin by 2 and Okeechobee by 2.
Palm Beach County's death count is higher than 22 states, including Iowa's `1,109 after reporting 12 Saturday. Wisconsin is 2 behind Florida with 1,119, including 6 reported deaths Saturday.
The state on Saturday identified 18 deaths in Palm Beach County, including 11 men (57, 59, 69, 72, 78, 79, 80, 86, 86, 88, 94) with one of the 86-year-old ones becoming a case on April 15, and 7 women (62, 76, 80, 82, 88, 91, 93). Indian River reported a 56-year-old man.
Cases
Since the first two cases were announced on March 1, Florida's total has surged to 2.9 percent of the state's 21.48 million population with 619,003 second in the nation.
In one week, cases have risen by 21,406 at 3.6 percent, a percentage that has been steadily decreasing.
On Aug. 5, Florida became the second state to pass 500,000 cases.
California has the most cases in the U.S. at 693,834 with the addition of 4,981,he most in the U.S. on Saturday. Texas had the second-most new cases, 4,732 and is third overall with 606,530. New York, which was the leader during much of the pandemic, is in fourth at 433,402 with 635 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 41,730, including residents and nonresidents.
Miami-Dade's cases were 620 compared with 661, and Broward's increase was 251 vs. 366. In the Treasure Coast area, the rise over one day was 43 in St. Lucie, 58 in Martin, 16 in Indian River and 15 in Okeechobee.
Testing
Florida's total now is 4,582,134, fourth in the nation, behind No. 1 New York, No. 2 California and No. 3 Texas. That Florida figure is 21.3 percent of Florida's population, though some people tested more than once.
The overall positive rate was 13.51 percent Saturday compared with 13.52 the day before.
The daily rate at one time was around 2-3 percent but has risen to 7.13 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 since 10.2 percent on Aug. 4. It has been under 5 percent for 4 days over two weeks.
Miami-Dade's rate reached a two-week low of 7.09 and the under 8 percent for 4 straight days, including 7.64 the previous day. The highest was 26.4 on July 8. In Broward, dropped from 4.81 to 4.27, which was near the low of 4.24 on Sunday.
Elsewhere, St. Lucie's rate declined from 8.82 to 5.24 with the two-week low of 3.66 on Aug. 21 though it surged to 14.15 on Monday. Martin's rate declined from 12.29 to 7.53 and a two-week low of 4.40 on Sunday. Indian River's rate was 3.00 percent after 3.17 the previous day and a two-week low of 1.67 on Sunday. Okeechobee's rate was 9.15 on 137 negative tests after 4.37 percent on 197 negative tests, a two-week high of 11.96 Saturday on 81 negative tests and 0 percent on Sunday on 28 tests.
Palm Beach County has 41,730 cases out of 319,859 total tested for 13.05 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 156,038 positive cases out of 804,755 tested for 19.39 percent, and Broward is second with 70,764 cases and 498,045 tested for 14.21 percentage.
In Martin County, it's 4,420 of 30,312 for 14.58 percent. In St. Lucie, it's 6,939 out of 50,469 for 13.75 percent, Indian River with 2,827 of 30,497 for 9.27 percent and Okeechobee 1,234 of 9,818 for 12.57 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 3.10 percent in the United States and 3.4 percent worldwide, which neared 841,000 deaths and neared 24.9 million cases Saturday.
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, 2.6 percent in Martin, 3.5 percent in Indian River and 1.2 percent in Okeechobee.
Florida has 517 deaths per 1 million people compared with the U.S. average of 564 per million. New York, which represents 17.7 percent of the deaths in the nation, has 1,697 per million. Worldwide, the figure is 108.5 per million.
Age breakdown
The median age for all deaths in Florida is 79.
Four deaths are among youths 14 and under, a figure that was unchanged: 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 28 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. The classes increased by 1 with the death of a 18-year-old woman from Charlotte.
Seventy-two people from 25 to 34 also have died from the virus, with no increase.
A total of 3,578 people 85 and older have died in the state from the virus, an increase of 46 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 10,442 cases of infants to 4 years old, an increase of 65, and 243 were hospitalized, which rose by 1. From ages 5-14, there are 25,248 25,098, an increase of 250 with 216 in the hospital at one time, which went up by 2.
From the infant to 54 age group, 440,832 of the 612,206 residents tested. In that group, 776 have died, an increase of 9, for a 0.18 death percentage. From infant to 64, there are 521,022 cases. A total of 1,978 have died, an increase of 33, for a 0.38 percentage.
Cities
West Palm Beach is in first place among Palm Beach County cities with 10,421, an increase of 42. Lake Worth, which includes the city and county portion, rose 22 to 7,277 followed by Boca Raton at 5,686 up from 5,649, Boynton Beach at 3,717 from 3,707 and Delray Beach at 2,852 vs. 2,826. A total of 904 in the county not designated by a city.
Port St. Lucie leads the Treasure Coast with 4,076, an increase of 20 followed by Fort Pierce at 2,498, up 9, and Stuart with 2,085, which was an increase of 25.
In Indian River County, Fellsmere, which has a population of 5,754, increased by 2 cases to 394 compared with only 3 on May 31.
Hospitalizations
A total of 38,314 people in the state have been hospitalized, a rise from 36,329 seven days ago. That means it is a running total and includes people who have been released or died.
The number is 3,327 in Palm Beach County, an increase of 29 compared with 68 the day before; 376 in Martin, which increased by 2; 464 in St. Lucie with a rise of 1, Indian River went up by 4 to 252 and Okeechobee incresed from 130 to 131.
Long-term care
Forty-two percent of the deaths, 4,678 are residents and staff of long-term care, including 479 in Palm Beach County, which is second most in the state behind 697 in Miami-Dade. The state increase was 58 and in Palm Beach County it went up by 9.
National
Since the first death was reported six months ago on Feb. 29, the toll has risen to 186,855, an increase of a world-high 954 on Saturday, according to Worldometers.info.
Johns Hopkins reports 181,800, a gain of 735.
Cases reached 6,139,078 with an increase of 42,843, according to Worldometers.info. They have exceeded 70,000 seven times, including a record 78,446 on July 24.
Last Saturday in the U.S., there were 974 more deaths and 43,829 more cases.
The one week U.S. death increase was 6,721 at 3.7 percent.
New York has the most deaths in the nation at 33,012, with 7 reported Saturday, after a high of 799 in April.
Among other states in the top 10 for deaths: No. 2 New Jersey 4, No. 6 Massachusetts 12, No. 7 Illinois 11, No. 8 Pennsylvania 18, No. 9 Michigan 33, No. 10 Georgia 105.
Also, No. 11 Arizona announced 29 new deaths and 629 additional cases. No. 23 Washington, the original epicenter in the United States, reported no new deaths.
Worldwide
The U.S. represented 18.0 percent of the 5,302 additional deaths Saturday 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 38,090 at 4.7 percent.
Last Saturday's death increase was 5,373.
Cases increased by 257,855, behind a record 289,648 on July 24.
Brazil, which is second behind the United States for deaths, reported 904 deaths, just 50 behind the U.S., to rise to 120,498. Brazil's record is 1,554 on July 29. The nation added 34,360 cases for a total of 3,846,965 and only behind the U.S.
Mexico reported 673 more deaths late Saturday compared with a high of 1,092 on June 4 for a total of 63,819 in third place.
India is just 162 deaths behind Mexico with 63,657 total, adding 944. The Asian nation also reported a record 78,472 cases for a third-place total of 3,539,712, behind the U.S. and Brazil.
Four European nations are in the top 10. The United Kingdom reported an additional 12 deaths for 41,498 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 1 death. No. 7 France reported 6 deaths and and No. 8 Spain no data.
No. 9 Peru gained 136 and No. 10 Iran had 110.
Russia is in fourth place in the world in cases with 985,346, including an additional 4,941. The nation gained 111 deaths and is in 12th.
No. 17 Canada reported 5 deaths to rise to 9,113, as well as 315 cases.
Sweden, which has been doing "herd immunity," reported no data and has 5,821 total. Neighboring Norway announced zero deaths for the ninth day in a row to remain at 264 deaths, as well as 29 more cases.
No. 28 China, the original epicenter of the world, hasn’t reported a death since April 26, and added 9 cases Sunday.
Japan reported 17 deaths, tied with that number two days earlier and June 20 and largest since 19 on May 22, for a total of 1,255, as well as 850 cases.
