WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The coronavirus death toll in Florida hit 1,600, rising by 61 in one day as Palm Beach County increased by 7 to 222, the Florida Department of Health announced Thursday morning.
One day earlier, the state deaths increased by 68 and Palm Beach rose by 10. Over the weekend, when numbers subside, there were 15 more deaths reported Sunday and 20 on Monday. Nine days ago, records were set -- an increase of 83 in Florida and 17 in Palm Beach County.
The number of new cases statewide increased from 563 to 826. Last Thursday, it was 1,038. In Palm Beach County, the cases increased by 107, compared with 90 Wednesday.
The positive test rate dropped to 7.8 percent from 7.9 compared with more than 10 percent one week ago. The most recent positive daily rate was 6.3 percent after 3.9 percent the day before.
A total of 495,075 have been tested, an increase of 13,070 from Wednesday, with 454,122 negative results.
Miami-Dade County has the most deaths in the state, increasing by 22 to 454 in one day. Broward County rose to 230, an increase of 11 for second place. Manatee is in fourth place with 68.
Forty of the 61 additional 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 931 deaths, which is 58.2 percent of the state total though the population comprises 30 percent.
The mortality rate involving positive cases is 4.1 percent in the state compared with 5.9 percent in the United States and 6.9 percent worldwide, which passed 270,000 Thursday. Palm Beach County's rate was 6.2 percent, compared with Broward at 4.1 percent and Miami-Dade with 3.3 percent. With much fewer deaths, the mortality rate is 9.2 percent in St. Lucie, 8.1 percent in Indian River and 2.6 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-four percent of the fatalities are 55 and older and 61 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 210 cases of infants to 4 years old and 454 from 4-14 among the 38,828 testing positive.
Palm Beach County's death count is higher than 19 states.
Florida ranks 10th in the nation in total deaths, according to Thursday tracking by Worldometers.info.Florida was 628 behind No. 9 Louisiana, which had 52 more fatalities Thursday.
Florida has reported 78 deaths per 1 million people compared with the U.S. average of 232 per million through Thursday. New York, which represents 34.3 percent of the deaths in the nation with 26,365, has 1,344 per million.
New York reported an additional 409 deaths, but some of those are probable deaths in New York City. On Wednesday, 752 more deaths were reported though in previous days the totals were in the 200s.
Neighboring New Jersey is a distant second with 8,818 and reported 246 additional deaths -- the second in the nation -- compared with 280 Wednesday.
Third-place Massachusetts announced 132 more deaths as opposed to 208 the day before.
Other states reporting triple-digit more deaths are No. 5 Pennsylvania with 238, No. 6 Illinois with 137, No. 8 California with 103. Michigan, which is in fourth place, added 93.
Georgia, which has opened nonessential businesses, is in 13th place with 1,340, an increase of 13 deaths Thursday. No. 17 Washington, which was the original epicenter in the United States, reported 24 more deaths Thursday.
A total of 76,928 have died from the virus in the United States, including 2,129 Thursday after 2,528 Wednesday, 2,350 Tuesday and 1,324 Monday.
The U.S. represented 38.1 percent of the additional deaths and 28.4 percent of the world total though its population is only 4.3 percent of the global total.
Brazil announced 600 additional deaths Thursday, the second-most in the world Thursday behind the United States. On Wednesday, the South American nation reported 667 more deaths, a record. Brazil, which has surged from 5,901 to 9,188 deaths in one week, is in sixth place, almost 17,000 behind No. 5 France, which added 178 deaths -- 100 less than Wednesday and significantly less than the high of 1,438 on April 15.
The United Kingdom, which overtook Italy for second place in the world Tuesday, reported an additional 539 deaths -- the third most in the world behind the United States -- after 649 Tuesday. The UK's record death count was was 1,172 on April 4. The kingdom has announced 30,615 deaths, which is 657 more than Italy -- at one time an epicenter of the virus. Italy gained 274 more deaths after 369 Wednesday and a high of 919 on March 27.
No. 4 Spain's new deaths declined to 213 from 244 and a high of 961 on April 2.
China, the original epicenter, reported only 1 new case and zero new deaths Friday – the 11th day in the row for zero -- for 11th place behind the Netherlands.
One week ago Thursday in the United States, there were 63,856, two weeks ago there were 50,234, three weeks ago 34,905, four weeks ago 19,802, five weeks ago 7,576, six weeks ago 1,614, seven weeks ago 239, eight weeks ago 41, nine weeks ago 12, 10 weeks ago 0.
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Palm Beach County's total number of confirmed cases are wide-ranging from newborn to 104. Yhe new deaths include five women and two men with ages ranging from 58 to 89.
West Palm Beach leads Palm Beach County with 685 followed by Lake Worth Beach with 548, Boca Raton with 491, Boynton Beach with 423 and Delray Beach with 373. The most cases on the Treasure Coast are in Port St. Lucie with 183.
Palm Beach County has 3,587 cases out of 38,027 total tested, including 64 awaiting results, for 10.0 percent, not including those awaiting tests and inconclusive.
Miami-Dade leads with 13,585 positive cases out of 104,494 tested for 13.1 percent, and Broward is second with 5,677 cases and 57,843 tested for a 8.9 percentage.
On the Treasure Coast area, Martin County reported 9 more cases, St. Lucie up 6, Indian River stayed the same and Okeechobee County went up 4.
In St. Lucie, it's 271 positive out of 4,082 for 6.7 percent, Martin with 233 of 2,196 for 10.6 percent, Indian River with 99 out of 2,196 for 4.3 percent and Okeechobee with 22 out of 878 for 2.5 percent.
A total of 6,765 people in the state have been hospitalized at one time, which is 208 more than the day before. That means it is a running total and includes people who have been released or died. Through Thursday, the number is 548 in Palm Beach County, 76 in St. Lucie, 43 in Martin, 27 in Indian River and 6 in Okeechobee.
