WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida's additional coronavirus deaths rose in one day from 55 to 137, the first time since Friday it reached triple digits, with total fatalities including nonresidents passing 15,000 as cases increased by 2,582, which is 231 more than the day before. But the state's first-time daily positivity rate declined significantly to a low 4 percent, including Palm Beach County back under 3 percent, the Florida Health Department announced Wednesday.
Florida's first-time daily infection rate of all tested was 4.15 percent from a two-week high of 5.25 the day before, 3.74 each three days ago and five days ago, which were among the lowest in several months. Palm Beach County's rate dropped to 2.80 percent from 3.98 the day before, 2.41 five days ago and 2.14 On Sept. 27 that was among the lowest in several months. The two-week high was 4.16 on Sept. 30.
The state's total daily positivity rate for all tests declined to 5.33 percent on 66,274 tests reported by labs to the state Tuesday from a two-week high of 6.83 on 46,944 the day before. Only 20,987 tests were reported Sept. 27 and the record test total was 142,964 July 11. Palm Beach County had only 138 positive tests.
Wednesday's state report noted there were 131 deaths received by the department but 6 cases were later determined to be related to COVID-19 for a net increase of 137. Thirteen new deaths in Palm Beach County were listed in the report but the increase from Tuesday was 12.
For five days deaths in the state had been under 100 after 111 on Friday. Increases were 73 Saturday, 43 Sunday, 41 Monday and 55 Tuesday. One week ago Wednesday there were 174 more deaths. Weekend data are traditionally lower.
The record was 276 deaths on Tuesday, Aug. 11.
Cases on Tuesday were 2,582 after Monday's 1,415 and Sunday's 1,868.
One Monday ago, Sept. 29, the 738 cases were fewest since June 2 when there were 617 additional infections. Then, they increased to 3,266 on Tuesday, Sept. 30.
The last time there were fewer than 2,000 not from weekend data was 1,823 on Sept. 8. The last time cases were more than 4,000 was 4,684 on Aug. 22.
Florida's total of 722,707 cases is nearly 10 percent of the total infection in the U.S. though the state only comprises 6.5 percent of the population.
On Sunday, Sept. 27, cases passed 700,000 after surpassing 600,000 more than one month ago, Aug. 23.
Since the first two deaths were announced on March 6, which is 215 days, the death toll has climbed to 14,904 among residents, with an average of 69 per day, and 14,056 including 180 residents, which went up by 2.
It took nine days for the toll to pass from 13,000 to 14,000. It was eight days to pass 12,000 on Sept.9.
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 two months ago, July 20, there were 5,075 deaths.
Palm Beach County's death toll increased to 1,408, third highest in the state behind Miami-Dade and Broward, after an increase of 2 Tuesday. On the Treasure Coast, St. Lucie rose by 1 to 295, Martin stayed at 142 and Indian River increased by 1 to 119. Okeechobee has 28 deaths with its first two fatalities on July 25.
Broward increased by 11 and Miami-Dade by 19.
With a net increase of 44 deaths in South Florida of the 137 state total, which is 32.1 percent, there are 6,800, which is 45.6 percent of the state figure though the population only comprises 30 percent.
Cases in Florida have been trending lower.
Palm Beach County's daily cases increased by 140 after 91 the day. On Sept. 28, the rise was 27.
Florida's new hospitalizations rose by 255 compared with 229 the day before. The state reported Wednesday there are currently 2,120 hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, which is 26 less than the day before.
Deaths
Florida is in fifth place in the United States. On June 16, Florida was in 11th place in the nation.
Texas moved from fourth place to second place with the addition of 119 deaths Wednesday after a state-record 324 on Aug. 11, for a total of 16,230. California reported 51 and is in third place just 2 behind with 16,228. New Jersey, which had been second throughout the pandemic, dropped to fourth place with 16,152, adding 5 deaths.
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: 77 on Sept. 9.
Deaths rose by 587 in the state over seven days (a daily average of 88) for 4.1 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 increased by 39 for 2.8 percent. The U.S. figure is 2.3 percent with the world at 3.5 percent.
Miami-Dade rose to 3,368 with 188 more in one week. Broward increased to 1,440 with a rise 44 in one week. St. Lucie has risen by 12 deaths in one week compared with Martin 1 lower with an adjustment, Indian River unchanged and Okeechobee by 1.
Palm Beach County's death count is higher than 20 states, including Kentucky's 1,218 with no data reported.
Pinellas increased by 6 to 774 deaths in fourth place and Hillsborough reduced by 4 to 675 in fifth place, Polk increased by 10 to 542 in sixth, Orange by 4 to 491 in seventh and Lee rose by 7 to 477.
The state Wednesday identified 13 new deaths in Palm Beach County though there was a net increase of 12 with 10 men (58, 71, 76, 79, 81, 86, 88, 88, 94, 97) and two women (80, 88, 95). St. Lucie reported a 93-year-old man and Indian River a 98-year-old woman.
Cases
Since the first two cases were announced on March 1, Florida's total has surged to 3.4 percent of the state's 21.48 million population with 722,707, third in the nation. The average over 220 days is 3,285 per day.
In one week, cases have risen by 16,181, which averages 2,313 per day, at 2.3 percent.
California has the most cases in the U.S. at 831,225 with the addition of 2,764 Wednesday. Texas had a U.S.-high 3,776 and is second overall with 777,556. New York, which was the leader during much of the pandemic, is in fourth at 468,268 with an additional 1,360.
Florida's daily case increases have been below 10,000 since July 26 when they climbed by 12,199.
The record for most cases was 15,300 cases, which was the highest figure ever in the United States.
In Palm Beach County, new cases have been much lower since the record 1,171 July 5. The total now is 47,384, including residents and nonresidents.
Miami-Dade's cases were 431 compared with 458 the day before and Broward's increase was 238 vs. 124. In the Treasure Coast area, the rise over one day was 12 in Martin, 24 in St. Lucie, 16 in Indian River, 13 in Okeechobee.
Testing
Florida's total number of people tested is 5,466,927, which is 25.5 percent of the state's population behind No. 1 California, No. 2 New York, No. 3 Texas and No. 4 Illinois.
The overall Florida positive rate dropped to 13.22 from 13.24 in one day.
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 dropped dramatically from 6.02 percent to 3.94 percent with a two-week high of 6.832 Sept. 28 and a two-week low of 2.74 on Sept. 27. The rate hit 26.4 on July 8. Broward's rate was 3.01 percent after 3.59, a two-week low of 1.75 on Sept. 27 and a high of 3.99 on Sept. 30.
Elsewhere, St. Lucie's rate was 2.57 percent from 3.06, a two-week high of 6.72 seven days ago and a two-week low of 2.47 Sept. 26. Martin's rate was 2.67 percent after 3.0, a two-week low of 1.85 on Sept. 26 and a high of 7.28 on Sept. 24. Indian River's rate was 3.29 from 4.02 percent, a two-week high of 731 Sept. 26 and a two-week low of 3.29 five days ago. Okeechobee's rate was 4.4 percent on 261 negative tests after 6.93 on 94 negative tests, a two-week low of 2.52 on 116 negative tests six days ago and a two-week high of 21.92 on 57 negative tests Sept. 24.
Palm Beach County has 47,384 cases out of 379,495 total tested for 12.49 percent overall, not including those awaiting tests and inconclusive.
Miami-Dade leads with 173,280 positive cases out of 943,528 tested for 18.37 percent, and Broward is second with 78,374 cases and 585,161 tested for 13.39 percentage.
In Martin County, it's 5,011 of 38,483 for 13.02 percent. In St. Lucie, it's 8,269 out of 64,282 for 12.86 percent, Indian River with 3,362 of 37,604 for 8.94 percent and Okeechobee 1,614 of 11,444 for 14.1 percent.
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 2.8 percent in the United States and 2.9 percent worldwide, which passed 1,060,000 deaths and passed 36.3 million cases Wednesday, according to Worldometers.info.
Palm Beach County's rate is 3.0 percent, compared with Broward at 1.9 percent and Miami-Dade with 2.0 percent. With much fewer deaths, the mortality rate is 3.6 percent in St. Lucie, 2.9 percent in Martin, 3.6 percent in Indian River and 1.7 percent in Okeechobee.
Florida has 694 deaths per 1 million people compared with the U.S. average of 654 per million. New York, which represents 15.7 percent of the deaths in the nation, has 1,714 per million. Worldwide, the figure is 136.0 per million.
Age breakdown
The median age for all deaths in Florida is 79.
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 33 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 have any additions.
Eighty-eight people from 25 to 34 also have died from the virus with no change.
A total of 4,7573 people 85 and older have died in the state from the virus, an increase of 44 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 12,247 cases of infants to 4 years old, an increase of 61, and 288 were hospitalized, which went up by 2. From ages 5-14, there are 30,621, an increase of 176 with 267 in the hospital at one time, which increased by 2.
From the infant to 54 age group, there are 514,420 of the 713,902 residents' cases. In that group, 1002 have died, with an increase of 8, for a 0.19 death percentage. From infant to 64, there are 607,368 cases. A total of 2,643 have died, an increase of 19, for a 0.44 percentage.
Cities
West Palm Beach is in first place among Palm Beach County cities with 11,598 with an increase of 32. Lake Worth, which includes the city and county portion, increased by 5 to 7,980, followed by Boca Raton at 6,979 up from 6,937. Boynton Beach went to 4,174 from 4,164 and Delray Beach at 3,223 vs. 3,214. A total of 1,200 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 4,882, an increase of 9, followed by Fort Pierce at 2,857, up 8, and Stuart with 2,334, which went up by 2.
In Indian River County, Fellsmere, which has a population of 5,754, remained at 415 compared with only 3 on May 31.
Hospitalizations
A total of 45,259 people in the state have been hospitalized, a rise from 44,108seven days ago. That means it is a running total and includes people who have been released or died.
The number is 3,763 in Palm Beach County, with a increase of 31 compared with 14 the day before; 406 in Martin, which went up by 1; St. Lucie at 700 with an increase of 1, Indian River rose by 3 to 318 and Okeechobee from 179 to 180.
Long-term care
Forty-one percent of the deaths, 6,059 are residents and staff of long-term care, including 621 in Palm Beach County, which is second most in the state behind 811 in Miami-Dade. The state increase was 58 and Palm Beach County went up by 10.
National
Since the first death was reported six months ago on Feb. 29, the toll has risen to 211,725, a gain of 839, according to Johns Hopkins. Worldometers reported an increase of 932 to 216,784.
Cases reached 7,776,225 with an increase of 45,742, according to Hopkins. They have exceeded 70,000 seven times, including a record 78,446 on July 24 and the last time was July 31.
Last Wednesday in the U.S., there were 946 more deaths and 41,405 cases.
The one week U.S. death increase was 4,793 at 2.3 percent.
New York has the most deaths in the nation at 33,226, with 7 reported after a high of 799 in April.
Among other states in the top 10 for deaths: No. 6 Massachusetts no data, No. 7 Illinois 42, No. 8 Pennsylvania 23, No. 9 Georgia 30, No. 10 Michigan 8.
Also, No. 11 Arizona reported 20 deaths, as well as an additional 604 cases. No. 24 Washington, the original epicenter in the United States, reported 11.
Worldwide
The U.S. represented 15.8 percent of 5,909 additional deaths Wednesday and 20.5 percent of the world total though its population is only 4.3 percent of the global total.
The one week world death increase was 35,911 at 3.5 percent.
Last Wednesday's death increase was 5,824.
Cases increased by a record 343,517, according to Worldometers.info. The previous record was 322,648 on Sept. 18.
Brazil, which is second behind the United States for deaths, initially reported 733 deaths to rise to 148,304. Brazil's record is 1,554 on July 29. The nation added 31,404 cases at 5,002,357 in third place.
India reported 72,049 cases compared with a world-record 97,894 to rise to 6,757,132, which is second in world behind U.S. Also, India recorded a world-high 986 deaths, behind a national-record 1,299, to rise to 104,555 and in third place.
Mexico announced 378 more deaths late Wednesday compared with a high of 1,092 on June 4 for a total of 82,726in fourth place.
Four European nations are in the top 10 as cases are surging on the continent. The United Kingdom reported 70 additional deaths for 42,515 in fifth place with the record daily high 1,172, as well as a record 14,162 cases, one day after a record 14,542 cases. No. 6 Italy, which at one time was the world's epicenter and reached 919 in one day, reported 31 deaths and 3,678 cases, the most since 3,787 on April 16. No. 8 Spain reported 76 deaths and 6,645 cases. No. 9 France is 117 behind Spain, announcing 80 deaths, as well as a record 18,746 cases, shattering the mark of 116,972 four days ago.
No. 7 Peru announced 95 deaths and is 447 ahead of Spain. No. 10 Iran reported a record 239 deaths, passing the marks of 235 on July 28 and two days ago.
Russia is in fourth place in the world in cases with 1,248,619, including an additional 11,115 one day after a record 11,615. The nation gained 202 deaths and is in 12th.
No. 21 Canada reported 11 deaths for a total of 9,541 and 1,800 cases. Between May 26 and Aug. 30 cases were never more than 1,000.
Sweden, which has been doing "herd immunity" with no lockdown, reported 5 deaths and is at 5,892. Neighboring Norway reported no deaths for the fifth day in a row to remain at 275, as well as 111 more cases.
No. 32 China, the original epicenter of the world, hasn’t reported a death since April 26, added 11 cases Thursday.
