WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The coronavirus death toll in Florida surged dramatically, rising by 9 in 205 in Palm Beach County and by 72 to 1,471 in the state, the Florida Department of Health announced Tuesday morning.
Traditionally, the numbers subside over the weekend, including 15 more deaths reported Sunday and 20 on Monday -- and climb on Tuesday. Last Tuesday, state records were set -- an increase of 83 in the state and 17 in Palm Beach County. The previous state high also was 72 earlier in April.
Before Tuesday, only one additional death in Palm Beach County had been reported since Saturday's update -- on Sunday with none Monday.
Some good news: The number of new cases statewide decreased from 615 to 542, which Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday was the lowest since testing ramped up several weeks ago. On Thursday, it was 1,038. In Palm Beach County, the cases increased by 79 compared with 181 Monday.
The positive test rate dropped 3 percentage points in one day to 8.0 compared with more than 10 percent one week ago. On Tuesday, the positive rate was 2.3 percent, which DeSantis said is the lowest ever.
A total of 467,553 have been tested, an increase of 23,558 from Monday, with 428,252 negative results.
Miami-Dade County has the most deaths in the state, increasing by 29 to 407 in one day. Broward County rose to 215, an increase of 7 for second place.
Forty-five of the 72 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 866 deaths, which is 58.9 percent of the state total though the population comprises 30 percent. The county with the fourth most deaths is Manatee, which increased by 2 to 61.
The mortality rate involving positive cases is 3.9 percent in the state compared with 5.8 percent in the United States and 6.9 percent worldwide, which passed 257,000 so far Tuesday. Palm Beach County's rate was 6.0 percent, compared with Broward at 3.9 percent and Miami-Dade with 3.1 percent. With much fewer deaths, the mortality rate is 9.7 percent in St. Lucie, 8.1 percent in Indian River and 2.8 percent in Martin.
The deaths in the state range from a 26-year-old man in Miami-Dade to a pair of 101-year-old women in Miami-Dade and Collier. 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 -- 43 percent 55 and older and 13 percent 75 and older. At the other end of the age spectrum, there are 203 cases of infants to 4 years old and 431 from 4-14 among the 36,492 testing positive.
Palm Beach County's death count is higher than 18 states.
Florida ranks 10th in the nation in total deaths, according to Tuesday tracking by Worldometers.info.Florida was 644 behind No. 9 Louisiana, which had 51 more fatalities Monday. Georgia, which has opened nonessential businesses, is in 13th place with 1,292, an increase of 49 deaths Tuesday after 43 Monday.
New York, which represents 35 percent of the deaths in the nation with 25,174, reported an additional 230 fatalities Tuesday, compared with 226 Monday. At one time, New York posted around 800 additional deaths. Neighboring New Jersey is far behind in second with 8,273 but reported more new deaths than New York with 322 compared with 65 Monday.
Fifth-place Pennsylvania reported the most new deaths, 346 to rise to 3,196, but officials said they spread out over the previous two weeks by reconciling figures with deaths being reported by local agencies or hospitals.
Massachusetts reported 122 more deaths, compared with 86 Monday, to pass Michigan for third place. Michigan is 33 behind in fourth with 4,179. Illinois added 176, compared with 44 the day before for sixth place. Every other state in the top 10 reported new deaths in double figures. No. 18 Washington, which was the original epicenter in the United States, reported 24 more deaths after 9 Monday.
A total of 72,271 have died from the virus in the United States, including 2,350 Tuesday after 1,324 more Monday and 1,154 Sunday.
The U.S. represented 40.6 percent of the additional deaths and 28.0 percent of the world total.
The United Kingdom overtook Italy with the most deaths in Europe and second in the world behind the United States. UK's death count spiked from 288 to 693 -- the second most daily increase in the world behind in the United States but lower than the record 1,172 on April 4.
The kingdom has announced 29,427 deaths, which is 112 more than Italy -- at one time was an epicenter of the virus. Italy gained 236 deaths after 195 Monday and a high of 919 on March 27.
No. 4 Spain increased to 185 after 164 Monday and a high of 961 on April 2. France reported 330 after 306 Monday for fifth place and a high of 1,438 on April 15.
Brazil's death toll continues to surge, reporting 578 more Tuesday -- third highest in the world -- after 318 on Monday, for seventh place ahead of Belgium with 92 more. In one week, Brazil's death toll has skyrocketed from 5,063 to 7,921. No. 8 Germany didn't report any deaths Tuesday.
China, the original epicenter, reported only 2 new cases and zero new deaths Wednesday – the ninth day in the row for zero -- for 11th place behind the Netherlands.
One week ago Tuesday in the United States, there were 59,265, two weeks ago there were 45,536, three weeks ago 30,081, four weeks ago 15,526, five weeks ago 5,151, six weeks ago 957, seven weeks ago 121, eight weeks ago 30, nine weeks ago 9, 10 weeks ago 0.
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The county's total number of confirmed cases are wide-ranging, with 195 from newborn to 104.
West Palm Beach leads Palm Beach County with 655 followed by Lake Worth Beach with 513, Boca Raton with 467, Boynton Beach with 405 and Delray Beach with 367. The most cases on the Treasure Coast are in Port St. Lucie with 177.
Palm Beach County has 3,390 cases out of 35,059 total tested, including 60 awaiting results, for 9.7 percent, not including those awaiting tests and inconclusive.
Miami-Dade leads with 13,224 positive cases out of 100,384 tested for 13.2 percent, and Broward is second with 5,492 cases and 54,792 tested for a 10.0 percentage.
On the Treasure Coast area, Martin County reported 3 more cases, St. Lucie 1 less, Indian River 1 more and Okeechobee a drop of 1. The state sometimes corrects data after misclassifications by counties.
In St. Lucie County, it's 259 positive out of 3,869 total tested for 6.8 percent, followed by Martin with 218 out of 2,082 for 10.5 percent, Indian River with 99 out of 2,094 for 4.8 percent and Okeechobee with 17 out of 855 for 2.0 percent. Okeechobee, which Monday reported a 6-year-old tested positive, has climbed from 429 to 855 tests in two days, including 643 Monday.
A total of 6,330 people in the state have been hospitalized at one time, which is 211 more than the day before. That means it is a running total and includes people who have been released or died. The number is 513 in Palm Beach County, 76 in St. Lucie, 43 in Martin, 27 in Indian River and 6 in Okeechobee.
