WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The coronavirus death toll in Florida is continuing to skyrocket, rising by 10 to 215 in Palm Beach County and by 68 to 1,539 in the state, the Florida Department of Health announced Wednesday morning.
One day earlier, the state deaths increased by 72, tying for second most, and Palm Beach rose by nine. Over the weekend, when numbers subside, there were 15 more deaths reported Sunday and 20 on Monday. Last Tuesday, state records were set -- an increase of 83 in the state and 17 in Palm Beach County.
The number of new cases statewide increased from 542 to 563, which are among the lowest since testing ramped up. On Thursday, it was 1,038. In Palm Beach County, the cases increased by 90, compared with 79 Tuesday.
The positive test rate dropped 1 percentage point in one day to 7.9 compared with more than 10 percent one week ago. The most recent positive daily rate was 3.9 percent
A total of 482,005 have been tested, an increase of 14,452 from Tuesday, with 428,252 negative results.
Miami-Dade County has the most deaths in the state, increasing by 25 to 432 in one day. Broward County rose to 219, an increase of 4 for second place.
Thirty-nine of the 68 deaths are linked to South Florida. Staying the same are St. Lucie with 25, Indian River with 8, Martin with 6 and Okeechobee none.
South Florida accounts for 891 deaths, which is 57.9 percent of the state total though the population comprises 30 percent. The county with the fourth most deaths is Manatee, which increased by 3 to 64.
The new deaths announced Wednesday in Palm Beach County were six women and four men, ranging from 60 to 92.
The mortality rate involving positive cases is 4.0 percent in the state compared with 5.9 percent in the United States and 6.9 percent worldwide, which passed 264,000 Wednesday. Palm Beach County's rate was 6.2 percent, compared with Broward at 3.9 percent and Miami-Dade with 3.5 percent. With much fewer deaths, the mortality rate is 9.4 percent in St. Lucie, 8.1 percent in Indian River and 2.7 percent in Martin.
The deaths in the state range from a 26-year-old man in Miami-Dade to a 103-year-old women in Miami-Dade, which was announced Wednesday. Ninety-three percent of the fatalities are 55 and older and 60 percent 75 and older. A smaller percentage of older people have tested positive -- 42 percent 55 and older and 13 percent 75 and older. At the other end of the age spectrum, there are 205 cases of infants to 4 years old and 441 from 4-14 among the 38,002 testing positive.
Palm Beach County's death count is higher than 18 states.
Florida ranks 10th in the nation in total deaths, according to Wednesday tracking by Worldometers.info.Florida was 628 behind No. 9 Louisiana, which had 52 more fatalities Wednesday.
Florida has reported 75 deaths per 1 million people compared with the U.S. average of 224 per million. New York, which represents 34 percent of the deaths in the nation with 25,956, has 1,323 per million.
New York initially reported an additional 232 deaths Wednesday, 2 more than the day before. However, Wednesday night Worldometers listed the total as 752. The data site includes probable deaths and New York City reported 5,359 of its 19,297 total are probable.
Neighboring New Jersey is a distant second with 8,561 and reported 269 additional deaths -- the second in the nation -- compared with 322 Tuesday.
Third-place Massachusetts announced 208 more deaths compared with 122 Tuesday. The only other states reporting triple-digit increases were No. 5 Pennsylvania with 151 more and No. 6 Illinois gaining 136. Michigan, which was displaced by Massachusetts on Tuesday into fourth place, reported 71 more.
Ohio posted the sixth most new deaths, 89, and is in 14th with 1,225. Georgia, which has opened nonessential businesses, is in 13th place with 1,313, an increase of 32 deaths Wednesday after 49 more Tuesday. No. 17 Washington, which was the original epicenter in the United States, reported 10 more deaths Wednesday.
A total of 74,799 have died from the virus in the United States, including 2,528 Wednesday after 2,350 Tuesday and 1,324 more Monday and 1,154 Sunday.
The U.S. represented 30.9 percent of the additional deaths and 28.1 percent of the world total though its population is only 4.3 percent of the global total.
The United Kingdom, which overtook Italy for second place in the world Tuesday, reported an additional 649 deaths after 693 Tuesday. The UK's death count was 288 Monday and a record 1,172 on April 4.
The kingdom has announced 30,076 deaths, which is 392 more than Italy -- at one time an epicenter of the virus. Italy gained 369 more deaths after 236 Tuesday and a high of 919 on March 27.
No. 4 Spain increased to 244 from 185 Tuesday and a high of 961 on April 2. France reported 278 after 330 Tuesday for fifth place and a high of 1,438 on April 15.
Brazil's death toll continues to skyrocket, reporting 667 more deaths -- the second highest in the world -- after 578 more Tuesday. The South American nation overtook Belgium, with 323 more, for sixth place with 8,536, about 17,000 behind France. In one week, Brazil's death toll has surged from 5,511 to 8,588.
Germany is in eighth place with 282 more fatalities.
China, the original epicenter, reported only 2 new cases and zero new deaths Thursday – the 10th day in the row for zero -- for 11th place behind the Netherlands.
One week ago Wednesday in the United States, there were 61,655, two weeks ago there were 47,894, three weeks ago 32,712, four weeks ago 17,691, five weeks ago 6,394, six weeks ago 1,260, seven weeks ago 171, eight weeks ago 38, nine weeks ago 11, 10 weeks ago 0.
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The county's total number of confirmed cases are wide-ranging from newborn to 104.
West Palm Beach leads Palm Beach County with 655 followed by Lake Worth Beach with 526 Boca Raton with 474, Boynton Beach with 410 and Delray Beach with 368. The most cases on the Treasure Coast are in Port St. Lucie with 177.
Palm Beach County has 3,480 cases out of 36,695 total tested, including 67 awaiting results, for 9.6 percent, not including those awaiting tests and inconclusive.
Miami-Dade leads with 13,371 positive cases out of 102,466 tested for 13.1 percent, and Broward is second with 5,553 cases and 56,278 tested for a 9.9 percentage.
On the Treasure Coast area, Martin County reported 6 more cases, St. Lucie up 6, Indian River stayed the same and Okeechobee up 1.
In St. Lucie County, it's 265 positive out of 3,951 total tested for 6.8 percent, followed by Martin with 224 out of 2,131 for 10.5 percent, Indian River with 99 out of 2,112 for 4.8 percent and Okeechobee with 18 out of 861 for 2.1 percent.
A total of 6,557 people in the state have been hospitalized at one time, which is 237 more than the day before. That means it is a running total and includes people who have been released or died. The number is 548 in Palm Beach County, 76 in St. Lucie, 43 in Martin, 27 in Indian River and 6 in Okeechobee.
