WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida's increased coronavirus deaths continued a downward trend, 32, compared with 56 the day before, as cases rose above 4,000 for the eighth time in nine days, 4,423, the Florida Health Department announced Wednesday. Also, the state's daily positivity rate increased to 7.75 percent, the highest in three months, but Palm Beach County dropped to 7.61 percent from 8.34, which was the highest in three months.
The state considers rates above 5 percent in the "danger" threshold.
Wednesday's cases were 214 less than 4,637 Tuesday and one week ago Wednesday it was 4,115. Monday's cases were 4,651.
On Saturday, infections had dropped to 2,331, the only time in the past week they were below 4,000 and the lowest since 2,144 on Oct. 2. Friday's figure was 5,592, which was the the most since 6,352 on Aug. 15, not including two days' worth of data on Oct. 11 and 7,569 for one day on Sept. 1, which were both because of infection dumps.
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 291 one day after360. On Sept. 28, the rise was 27.
Wednesday's state death increase of 32 was 24 less than the day before. Last Wednesday they rose by 66.
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.
The last time there was a triple-digit increase was 105 two weeks ago Wednesday, and they were last highest 141 on Thursday, Oct. 15. The record was 276 deaths on Tuesday, Aug. 11.
Palm Beach County's deaths increased by 5 to 1,604, which is second to Miami-Dade and ahead of Broward after a rise of 7 Tuesday.
Two Treasure Coast counties remained the same: St. Lucie at 336 and Indian River at 125 and Martin decreased by 2 to 168 with a revision of cases. Okeechobee rose by 2 to 43 with its first two fatalities on July 25.
Broward increased by 2 and Miami-Dade decreased by 5.
With a net increase of 2 deaths in South Florida of the 32 state total there are 7,480, which is 44.2 percent of the state figure though the population only comprises 30 percent.
Since the first two deaths were announced on March 6, which is 243 days, the death toll has reached 16,922 for an average of 70 per day. Florida's total including nonresidents is 17,131, which remained at 209.
The number of deaths over one week is 319, an average of 46, compared with 361 the previous week.
Florida's total of 821,123 cases is nearly 9 percent of the total infections in the U.S., which passed 9 million Friday, though the state only comprises 6.5 percent of the population.
In one week cases have risen by 30,697 for an average of 4,385 at 3.9 percent. The previous week the increase was 27,892 with an average of 3,984. The average since the first case, which was 248 days ago, is 3,311 per day.
Cases passed 800,000 on Friday, 700,000 one month ago, 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 Monday rose to the highest level since 7.9 on Aug. 17 from 7.55 the day before. It was the fifth time in 14 days it was 6 percent or more with low of 3.66 Oct. 23.
Palm Beach County's first-time percentage dropped from 8.34, which was the highest since 8.81 on Aug. 10, not including a date dump when it was 8.68 two weeks ago. Eight days ago, the rate hit 8.29 percent. The percentage rate has been 5 percent or above for 11 days in a row and all but two days over two weeks. The low was 2.69 on Aug. 23 one day after 3.24 percent. It 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 a two-week high of 9.33 percent on 61,931 tests from 8.92 on 66,327 tests one day earlier. The two-week low was 4.64 Oct. 23. Only 20,987 tests were reported Sept. 27 and the record test total was 142,964 July 11.
State and county increases represent fatalities received by the state Tuesday 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: 68 on Oct. 7.
The state report Wednesday identified 34 deaths with 2 previously reported cases deleted as a fatality for a net increase of 32.
Florida's new hospitalizations rose by 179 compared with 230 the day before. The state reported Wednesday there are currently 2,485 hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, which was no change from Tuesday.
Deaths
Since June 16, Florida has climbed seven spots from 11th place in the nation to fourth. And the state is 11th in deaths per million.
Texas is in second place with the addition of a U.S.-high 126 deaths Wednesday after a state-record 324 on Aug. 11, for a total of 18,320. California reported 66 and is in third place with 17,752. New Jersey, which had been second throughout the pandemic, is in fifth place with 16,391, adding 20 fatalities.
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.
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 36 deaths over seven days for 2.3 percent. The U.S. figure is 2.6 percent with the world at 4.2 percent.
Miami-Dade rose to 3,670 with 45 more in seven days. Broward is at 1,534 with the increase of 14 in a week. St. Lucie has gone up by 3 deaths compared with Martin by 4, Indian River by none and Okeechobee by 5.
Palm Beach County's death count is higher than 20 states, including Kentucky's 1,514 with 11 reported Wednesday.
Pinellas increased by 1 to 829 in fourth place, Hillsbourgh by 5 to 827 in fifth, Polk remained at 633 in sixth, Orange stayed at 561 in seventh and Lee was still 523 in eighth.
The state identified no deaths in Palm Beach County though the increase was 5. Okeechobee reported a 62-year-old man and a 76-year-old woman.
Cases
Since the first two cases were announced eight months ago on March 1, Florida's total has surged to 3.8 percent of the state's 21.48 million population with 821,123, third in the nation and 10th in cases per million.
California has the most cases in the U.S. at 940,010 with 5,338 more Wednesday. Texas had a U.S.-high 9,049 and is second overall with 926,400. New York, which was the leader during much of the pandemic, is in fourth at 515,815 with an increase of 2,126.
Seventeen states reported at least 2,500 cases. Four in the Midwest set records: No. 5 Illinois with 7,538, No. 11 Wisconsin with 5,935, No.14 Michigan with 4,397 and No. 22 Minnesota with 3,827. Also, No. 12 Ohio reported 4,071 one day after a record 4,222 and No. 17 Indiana with 3,698.
No. 5 Illinois reported 6,516, No. 11 Wisconsin a record 5,771, No. 12 Ohio a record 4,222, No. 22 Minnesota a record 3,476, No. 14 Michigan 3,437, No. 15 Missouri 3,321.
In Palm Beach County, new cases have been much lower since the record 1,171 July 5. The total now is 53,802 including residents and nonresidents.
Miami-Dade's cases were 879 compared with 879 the day before and Broward's increase was 422 vs. 503. In the Treasure Coast area, the rise over one day was Martin 17 vs. 18, St. Lucie 59 vs. 52, Indian River 59 vs. 29 and Okeechobee 6 vs. 6.
Testing
The state is no longer listing a running total of Floridians tested or total tests. Worldometers.info lists Florida with 10,236,958 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 6.79 percent from 6.46 and a two-week low of 2.47 on Oct. 23. The rate hit 26.4 on July 8. Broward's rate was 7.04 percent after 6.57, a two-week high of 7.38 seven days ago and a two-week low of 2.83 Oct. 23.
Elsewhere, St. Lucie's rate increased to 8.19 percent after 8.08 one day ago, a two-week high of 9.06 Oct. 26 and a low of 3.78 Oct. 25. Martin's rate was 5.91 percent after 5.06, a two-week low of 2.7 Oct. 25 and a two-week high of 6.93 seven days ago. Indian River's rate was 5.52 percent after 7.12, a two-week high of 8.8 Oct. 24 and a low of 4.17 four days ago. Okeechobee's rate 5.83 percent on 97 negative tests after a two-week high of 15.22 on 39 negative tests and zero percent on 32 negative tests two 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 2.5 percent in the United States and 2.5 percent worldwide, which passed 1,230,000 deaths and passed 48.4 million cases Wednesday, according to Worldometers.info.
Palm Beach County's rate is 3.0 percent compared with Broward at 1.8 percent and Miami-Dade with 2.0 percent. With much fewer deaths, the mortality rate is 3.6 percent in St. Lucie, 3.1 in Martin, 3.1 percent (-0.1) in Indian River and Okeechobee 2.4 percent (+0.1), which is the highest ever.
Florida has 787 deaths per 1 million people compared with the U.S. average of 723 per million. New York, which represents 14.4 percent of the deaths in the nation, has 1,734 per million. Worldwide, the figure is 157.8 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 an increase of 1.
A total of 5,416 people 85 and older have died in the state from the virus, an increase of 8 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 13,682 cases of infants to 4 years old, an increase of 77, and 328 were hospitalized, which went up by 2. From ages 5-14, there are 36,201 35,964, an increase of 237, with 304 in the hospital at one time, which didn't change.
From the infant to 54 age group, there are 584,311 of the 810,256 residents' cases. In that group, 1,111 have died, with an increase of 4, for a 0.19 death percentage. From infant to 64, there are 689,646 cases. A total of 2,976 have died, with 6 more, for a 0.43 percentage.
Cities
West Palm Beach is in first place among Palm Beach County cities with 12,859 with an increase of 56. Lake Worth, which includes the city and county portion, increased by 30 to 8,716, followed by Boca Raton at 8,187 up from 8,136, Boynton Beach went to 4,743 from 4,714 and Delray Beach at 3,647 vs. 3,617. A total of 1,654 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 5,507, an increase of 35, followed by Fort Pierce at 3,123, up 5, and Stuart with 2,529, which rose by 16.
In Indian River County, Fellsmere, which has a population of 5,754, remained at 439 compared with only 3 on May 31.
Hospitalizations
The total of 49,889 people in the state have been hospitalized, a rise from 48,722 seven days ago. That means it is a running total and includes people who have been released or died.
The number is 4,222 in Palm Beach County, with an increase of 10 compared with 24 the day before. Martin went up by 2 to 428, St. Lucie by 3 to 793, Indian River by 4 to 359 and Okeechobee stayed at 196.
Long-term care
Forty percent of the deaths, 6,819 are residents and staff of long-term care, including 724 in Palm Beach County, which is second most in the state behind 850 in Miami-Dade. The state increase was 9 and Palm Beach County decreased by 1.
Nation
Since the first death was reported on Feb. 29, the national toll has risen to 233,651, a rise of 1,031, according to Johns Hopkins. Worldometers.info has tabulated 239,829 deaths with an increase of 1,201.
Cases rose to 9,477,709, a rise of 95,115 behind a record 99,321 five days earlier, according to Johns Hopkins. COVID Tracking Project lists the case increase as a record 103,087 ahead of the former mark of 97,080 five days before. Worldometers.info has it at a record 108,389, ahead of 101,461 five days before.
Last Wednesday in the U.S., there were 1,031 more deaths and 78,358 cases.
The one week U.S. death increase was 5,962 at 2.6 percent.
New York has the most deaths in the nation at 33,556 with Johns Hopkins reporting 13 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 55, No. 7 Massachusetts 27, No. 8 Pennsylvania41, No. 9 Georgia 43 and No. 10 Michigan 21.
Also, No. 11 Arizona reported 39 deaths, as well as an additional 815 cases. No. 27 Wisconsin added 54 and No. 15 North Carolina 50 one day after a record 67. No. 25, the original epicenter in the United States, reported 20.
Worldwide
The U.S. represented 13.3 percent of a record 9,063 additional deaths, though Spain reported 1,300 from several months ago in reclassifying the cause of death, and 19.6 percent of the world total though its population is only 4.3 percent of the global total.
The one week world death increase was 50,000 at 4.2 percent.
Last Wednesday's death increase was 7,132.
Cases increased by 484,509, four days after a record 573,616, the 500,000 milestone five days ago and 400,000 one week ago Friday, according to Worldometers.info.
Brazil has been trending down in deaths and cases. The nation, which is second behind the United States for deaths, reported 622 deaths to rise to 161,170. Brazil's record is 1,554 on July 29. The nation added 23,815 cases at 5,590,941 in third place.
India reported 46,253 new cases compared with a world-record 97,894 in September, for second-place behind the U.S., with 8,313,876. Also, India recorded 514 deaths, behind a national-record 1,299, to rise to 123,611 and in third place.
Mexico announced 635 more deaths late Wednesday compared with a high of 1,092 on June 4 for a total of 93,228 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 5,210 deaths and 281,182 cases Wednesday, more than half the world total for both.
Four European nations are in the top 10. The United Kingdom reported 492 deaths, the most since 563 on May 12, as well as 25,177 cases one week after a record 26,688. No. 6 Italy, which at one time was the world's epicenter and reached 919 in one day, reported 352, one day after 352, and 30,550 cases, four days after a record 31,758. No. 7 France announced 385 deaths, one day after 854, as well as 40,558 cases, two days after a record 52,518. No. 8 Spain reported a record 1,623 deaths but 1,300 were from before May 11 because of a change in criteria, and 25,042 cases after a record 25,595 four days ago.
No. 9 Iran reported 419 deaths one day after a record 442 deaths and 8,452 cases, which were one day after a record 8,932 cases. No. 10 Peru added 48 deaths.
Russia is in fourth place in the world in cases with 1,693,454, including a record 19,768. The nation gained a 389 deaths in 13th.
No. 22 Canada reported 52 deaths for a total of 10,331 and 2,768 cases, one day after a record 4,672.
Sweden, which has been doing "herd immunity" with no lockdown, reported 13 deaths and is at 5,997. Neighboring Norway reported zero deaths for the fifth day in a row to remain at 282, as well as 622 more cases.
No. 34 China, the original epicenter of the world, hasn’t reported a death since April 26, added 28 cases Thursday.
