WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida's new coronavirus cases rose to 4,544, which 35 percent lower than the day before, as deaths increased by 44, which is 29 less than a day ago. But with fewer tests, the state's first-time daily positivity rate increased from 7.95 percent to 9.95 and Palm Beach County rose from 7.24 percent to 10.09, figures that are the highest in three months, the Florida Health Department announced Saturday afternoon.
The state considers anything 5 percent and above a "danger" threshold. Tests were under 50,000 for only the second in time weeks as sites were closed last weekend and thereafter because of the Topical Storm Eta and Veterans Day on Wednesday.
Florida first-time daily infection rate of tests reported by labs Friday was the highest since 10.29 on Aug. 10 and ended three days under 8 percent. The rate four days ago of 8.32 was highest since 9.65 on Aug. 12. The two-week low was 5.79 on Oct. 31.
Palm Beach County's percentage rate was the highest since 10.2 percent on Aug. 4. Two days earlier, it was 7.23 percent, among nine of the 14 past days under 8 percent, including a low of 4.61 percent on Nov. 5. Five days ago the rate of 8.61 was the highest since 8.81 on Aug. 10, not including a date dump when it was 8.68 on Oct. 9. The rate was 1.92 on Oct. 11, which was the smallest since 1.5 percent on May 19.
The state's total daily positivity rate rose to 11.41 percent on 49,61 tests, which is the highest since 12.11 on Aug. 16 on 34,423 tests one day after 9.18 on 94,767 tests. The last time it was 10 percent or more was 10.33 on Aug. 31. The two-week low was 7.35 percent on Nov. 4. Only 20,987 tests were reported Sept. 27 and the record test total was 142,964 July 11.
Cases have been trending up in the state.
One day ago the rate was 6,933, which was the highest since 8,109 on Aug. 12. Last Sunday, they rose by 6,820. Four days ago it was 3,924 after cases had exceeded 4,000 for 12 of the past 13 days.
Last Saturday's increase was 4,452.
Before Monday's 3,924, the previous time they were under 4,000 was Saturday, Oct. 31, at 2,331 and the lowest since 2,144 on Oct. 21.
Despite a surge in cases, deaths have been trending down in Florida with 24 days since it was in triple digits: 105 on Oct. 21. They previously were the last highest 141 on Thursday, Oct. 15. The record was 276 deaths on Tuesday, Aug. 11.
Friday's deaths rose by 73 and Thursday's by 72. Last Saturday's increase was 86.
Palm Beach County increased by 2 to 1,622 deaths, which is second to Miami-Dade and ahead of Broward after an increase of 1 Friday.
St. Lucie rose by 3 to 348, as Martin remained at 170 and Indian River at 126. Okeechobee stayed at 43 with its first two fatalities on July 25
Broward rose by 4 and Miami-Dade by 1.
With a net increase of 7 deaths in South Florida of the 44 state total, there are 7,598, which is 43.4 percent of the state figure though the population only comprises 30 percent.
The number of deaths over one week is 389, an average of 56, compared with 339 the previous week.
In one week cases have risen by 38,019 for an average of 5,431 at 4.5 percent. The previous week the increase was 34,530 with an average of 4,933. The average since the first case, which was 258 days ago, is 3,392 per day.
Florida's total of 875,098 cases is 8.0 percent of the total infections in the U.S., which passed 10 million Monday, though the state only comprises 6.5 percent of the population.
On Monday, 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.
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 that was surpassed Friday by Illinois with 15,415.
Palm Beach County's daily cases increased by 400 one day after 454. On Sept. 28, the rise was 27.
Cases passed 800,000 on Oct. 31, 700,000 on 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.
Since the first two deaths were announced on March 6, which is 253 days, the death toll has reached 17,489 for an average of 69 per day. Florida's total including nonresidents is 17,704, which increased by 1 to 215.
It took 19 days for the toll to pass from 16,000 to 17,100 on Nov. 7. Deaths passed 16,000 residents, 16,021 on Oct. 19, which is 19 days ago. 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. On July 20, there were 5,075 deaths.
State and county increases represent fatalities received by the state Friday 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: 58 on Oct. 17.
The state report Saturday identified 55 deaths with 11 previously reported cases deleted as a fatality for a net increase of 44.
Florida's new hospitalizations rose by 271 compared with 270 the day before. The state reported Friday there are currently 3,152 hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, which was 52 more in one day.
Deaths
Since June 16, Florida has climbed seven spots from 11th place in the nation to fourth. And the state is 13th in deaths per million.
Texas is in second place with 150 additional deaths reported Saturday after a state-record 324 on Aug. 11, for a total of 19,470. California reported 81 for third place with 18,218. New Jersey, which had been second throughout the pandemic, is in fifth place with 16,548, adding 16 fatalities.
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 13 deaths over seven days for 0.8 percent with an average of 46 per week since the first death. The U.S. figure is 3.2 percent with the world at 4.8 percent.
Miami-Dade rose to 3,707 with 25 more in seven days and 106 average since the first death. Broward is at 1,585 with the increase of 40 in a week and average of 45 since the first fatality. St. Lucie has gone up by 9 deaths compared with Martin by 1, Indian River none and Okeechobee 1.
Palm Beach County's death count is higher than 19 states, including Oklahoma's 1,416 with 23 reported Saturday.
Hillsborough is fourth place and remained at 857 as Pinellas increased by 3 to 853 in fifth place, Polk rose by 1 to 648 in sixth, Orange increased by 2 to 603 in seventh and Lee remained at 542 in eighth.
The state report Saturday identified 1 death in Palm Beach County, a 91-year-old woman that became a case on July 17 though the increase was 2. St. Lucie reported 2 women (75, 90) and 1 man (90).
Cases
Since the first two cases were announced eight months ago on March 1, Florida's total has surged to 4.1 percent of the state's 21.48 million population with 875,096, third in the nation and 15th in cases per million.
Texas is in first place with 1,014,160, adding 8,989 Saturday, according to the state website. California is at 1,008,372 with 9,875 more. New York, which was the leader during much of the pandemic, is in fifth at 556,551 with an increase of 5,388, the most since 5,902 on April 26.
Twenty-seven states reported at least 2,000 cases, including No. 5 Illinois with a U.S.-high 11,028, one day after a U.S. record 15,415, and now fourth overall ahead of New York. Eight set state records: No. 17 Minnesota with 8,689, No. 15 Indiana with 8,322, No. 15 Missouri with 6,739, No. 7 North Carolina with 3,885, No. 28 Kentucky with 3,283, No. 24 Maryland with 2,321, No. 38 North Dakota with 2,270 and No. 32 Nevada with 2,226.
Others with high numbers were: No. 10 Ohio with 7,715, No. 12 Michigan with 7,430, No. 25 Colorado with 5,196, No. 8 Wisconsin with 5,146, No. 9 Tennessee with 4,662, No. 23 Iowa with 4,622, No. 14 Pennsylvania with 4,396, No. 12 Arizona with 3,476, No. 26 Utah with 3,450, No. 11 New Jersey with 3,079, No. 22 Massachusetts with 3,047, No. 6 Georgia with 3,045.
Miami-Dade's cases of 1,187 compared with 1,876 the day before and Broward's increase was 354 vs. 509. In the Treasure Coast area, the rise over one day was Martin 21 vs. 17, St. Lucie 44 vs. 47, Indian River 30 vs. 43 and Okeechobee 5 vs. 7.
Testing
The state is no longer listing a running total of Floridians tested or total tests. Worldometers.info lists Florida with 10,899,389 total tests behind No. 1 California and No. 2 New York with Texas fourth and Illinois fifth.
Miami-Dade's rate increased to a two-week high of 9.53 percent from 9.18 and a two-week low of 5.52 on Oct. 31. The rate hit 26.4 on July 8. Broward's rate was 8.68 one day after a two-week high of 8.85 a two-week low of 5.65 Oct. 31.
Elsewhere, St. Lucie's rate was 8.54 percent one day after 5.48, a two-week high of 9.12 five days ago and a 14-day low of 3.04 six days ago. Martin's rate was a two-week high of 7.21 percent one day after 3.82, a two-week low of 2.49 Nov. 5. Indian River's rate was 9.15 percent one day after 7.77, a two-week high of 10.0 five days ago and a two-week low of 4.34 on Nov. 7. Okeechobee's rate was 17.02 percent on 39 negative tests one day after 3.70 percent on 182 negative tests, a two-week high of 19.72 on 57 negative tests seven days ago and zero percent on 31 negative tests Nov. 1.
Mortality rate
The mortality rate compares positive cases against deaths.The state's rate was 2.0 percent for all deaths and cases, including nonresidents, compared with 2.3 percent in the United States and 2.4 percent worldwide, which passed 1,317,000 deaths and passed 54.3 million cases Saturday, according to Worldometers.info.
Palm Beach County's rate is 2.8 percent (-0.1 in one day) compared with Broward at 1.7 percent and Miami-Dade with 1.9 percent. With much fewer deaths, the mortality rate is 3.6 percent in St. Lucie, 3.0 in Martin, 2.9 percent in Indian River and Okeechobee 2.3 percent.
Florida has 815 deaths per 1 million people compared with the U.S. average of 757 per million. New York, which represents 13.9 percent of the deaths in the nation, has 1,746 per million. Worldwide, the figure is 169.0 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.
A total of 102 people from 25 to 34 also have died from the virus with an increase of 1.
A total of 5,566 people 85 and older have died in the state from the virus, an increase of 17 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 – 27 percent age 55 and older and 6 percent 75 and older.
At the other end of the age spectrum, there are 14,490 cases of infants to 4 years old, an increase of 61, and 340 were hospitalized, which increased by 4. From ages 5-14, there are 39,319 39,056, an increase of 263, with 312 in the hospital at one time, which went up by 2.
From the infant to 54 age group, there are 622,646 of the 862,990 residents' cases. In that group, 1,157 have died, with an increase of 3, for a 0.19 death percentage. From infant to 64, there are 734,667 cases. A total of 3,083 have died, with 9 more, for a 0.42 percentage.
Cities
West Palm Beach is in first place among Palm Beach County cities with 10,644 with an increase of 73; Lake Worth, which includes the city and county portion, increased by 29 to 9,147 followed by Boca Raton at 8,801 up from 8,759, Boynton Beach went to 5,100 from 5,069 and Delray Beach at 3,954 vs. 3,933. A total of 1,914 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 5794, an increase of 21, followed by Fort Pierce at 3,240, up 15, and Stuart with 2,611, which rose by 9.
In Indian River County, Fellsmere, which has a population of 5,754, increased by 1 to 451 with only 3 on May 31.
Hospitalizations
A total of 51,813 people in the state have been hospitalized, a rise from 50,426 seven days ago. That means it is a running total and includes people who have been released or died.The number is 4,339 in Palm Beach County, with 23 more compared with 11 the day before. Martin rose by 1 to 437, St. Lucie by 11 to 845, Indian River by 4 at 388 and Okeechobee by remained at 200.
Long-term care
Forty percent of the deaths, 6,993 are residents and staff of long-term care, including 733 in Palm Beach County, which is second most in the state behind 855 in Miami-Dade. The state increase was 17 and Palm Beach County went up by 1.
Nation
Since the first death was reported on Feb. 29, the national toll has risen to 245,578, a rise of a world-high 1,246 Saturday, according to Johns Hopkins. Worldometers.info has tabulated 251,256 deaths with an increase of 1,260. And the Covid Project has recorded 236,953 with an increase of 1,321.
Cases rose to 10,896,870, a rise of 159,351, less than the record 184,514 Friday, according to Johns Hopkins. COVID Tracking Project lists the case increase as 163,473, one day after a record 170,333. Worldometers.info has it at as 157,081, behind a record 183,527 one day ago.
Last Saturday in the U.S., there were 1,013 more deaths and 128,468 cases.
The one week U.S. death increase was 7,560 at 3.2 percent.
New York has the most deaths in the nation at 34,010 with Johns Hopkins reporting 17 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 a U.S.-high 166, No. 7 Massachusetts 28, No. 8 Pennsylvania 47, No. 9 Georgia 51 and No. 10 Michigan 68.
Also, No. 40 South Dakota a state-record 53 deaths for a total of 621, No. 25 Wisconsin with 52 and No. 11 Arizona with 43. No. 26 Washington, the original epicenter in the U.S., reported none Saturday.
Worldwide
The U.S. represented 14.3 percent of 8,811 deaths Saturday, three two days after a record 10,156 and 19.1 percent of the world total though its population is only 4.3 percent of the global total.
The one week world death increase was 60,771 at 4.8 percent.
Last Saturday's death increase was 7,786.
Cases increased 575,576 one day after a record 656,180 with 500,00 passing for the first time Oct. 28 and 400,000 for the first time on Oct. 15.
Brazil, which is second behind the United States for deaths, reported 727 to rise to 165,673. Brazil's record is 1,554 on July 29. The nation added 29,463 cases and is at 5,848,959 in third place.
India reported 44,684 new cases compared with a world-record 97,894 in September for second-place behind the U.S., with 8,773,479. Also, India recorded 520 deaths, behind a national-record 1,299, to rise to 129,188 and in third place.
Mexico announced 635 more deaths late Saturday compared with a high of 1,092 on June 4 for a total of 98,259 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 3,773 deaths and 242,779 cases.
Four European nations are in the top 10. The United Kingdom reported 462 deaths, as well 26,860 cases two days after a record 33,470. No. 6 Italy, which at one time was the world's epicenter and reached 919 deaths in one day, reported 544 and 37,255 cases one day after record 40,902 cases. No. 7 France announced 354 deaths, one day after 932 deaths that was the most since a record of 1,437 in April, as well as 32,095 cases after a record 86,852 one Saturday ago. No. 8 Spain reported no data after Friday's 308 deaths and 21,371 cases, behind a record 22,516 Nov. 7.
No. 9 Iran reported 452 deaths, one day after a record-tying 462 and 11,203 cases, three days after a record 11,780. Argentina reported 262 deaths to move into 10th ahead of Peru, which announced 71 fatalities.
Russia is in fourth place in the world in cases with 1,903,253, including a record 22,702. The nation gained 391 deaths on day after a record 411 in 13th.
No. 22 Canada reported 63 deaths for a total of 10,891 and 4,613 cases two days after a record 5,516.
Sweden, which has been doing "herd immunity" with no lockdown, reported no data Saturday and is at 6,164, and lately hasn't reported cases information. Neighboring Norway reported no deaths to remain 294, as well as 518 more cases.
No. 35 China, the original epicenter of the world, hasn’t reported a death since April 26, added 13 cases Sunday.
