WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida's new coronavirus cases rose to 6,933, the highest in three months, as deaths increased by 73, just one more than a day ago. Also, the state's first-time coronavirus daily positivity rate increased from 7.34 percent to 7.95 and Palm Beach County rose from 7.24 percent to a three-month high of 8.99, the Florida Health Department announced Friday afternoon.
Of those cases, 1,876 were in Miami-Dade County, which was more than 22 states.
Florida first-time daily infection rate of tests reported by labs Thursday was the third day in a row it was under 8 percent. The rate three 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. One day earlier, it was 7.24 percent, among 10 of the 14 past days under 8 percent, including a low of 4.61 percent on Nov. 5. Three days ago the rate of 8.58 was the highest since 8.81 on Aug. 10, not including a date dump when it was 8.68 two weeks ago. The rate was 1.92 on Oct. 11, which was the smallest since 1.5 percent on May 19.
The state considers anything 5 percent and above a "danger" threshold.
The state's total daily positivity rate rose to 9.18 percent on 94,776 tests after three days of decline from 9.99 percent four days ago to 9.64 to 9.14 to 8.55 one day ago on 82,869 tests. The last time it was 10 percent or more was 10.33 on Aug. 31. The two-week low was 5.79 on Oct. 31. 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 state increase was 5,607 after 5,838. Three days ago it was 3,924 after cases had exceeded 4,000 for 12 of the past 13 days. Sunday's increase of 6,820 was the most since 8,109 on Aug. 12. One Thursday ago there were 6,257 cases, which at the time was the highest since 6,352 on Aug. 15, not including 7,569 Sept. 1 because of a data dump.
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 23 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.
Thursday's deaths rose by 72 and Wednesday's rose by 52. Last Friday's increase was 53.
Palm Beach County increased by 1 to 1,620 deaths, which is second to Miami-Dade and ahead of Broward after an increase of 5 Thursday.
All three Treasure Coast counties didn't change: St. Lucie at 345, Martin at170 and Indian River at 126. Okeechobee stayed at 43 with its first two fatalities on July 25
Broward rose by 11 and Miami-Dade by 5.
With a net increase of 17 deaths in South Florida of the 73 state total, there are 7,591, which is 43.5 percent of the state figure though the population only comprises 30 percent.
The number of deaths over one week is 431, an average of 62, compared with 294 the previous week.
In one week cases have risen by 37,927 for an average of 5,418 at 4.6 percent. The previous week the increase was 32,409 with an average of 4,6309. The average since the first case, which was 257 days ago, is 3,387 per day.
Florida's total of 970,552 cases is 8.2 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 then 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 454 one day after 398. 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 252 days, the death toll has reached 17,445 for an average of 69 per day. Florida's total including nonresidents is 17,659, which increased by 1 to 214.
It took 19 days for the toll to pass from 16,000 to 17,100 on Friday. 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 Thursday 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: 56 on Oct. 17.
The state report Friday identified 103 deaths with 30 previously reported cases deleted as a fatality for a net increase of 73.
Florida's new hospitalizations rose by 270 compared with 157 the day before. The state reported Friday there are currently 3,100 hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, which was 42 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 a U.S.-high 173 additional deaths reported Friday after a state-record 324 on Aug. 11, for a total of 19,320. California reported 29 for third place with 18,137. New Jersey, which had been second throughout the pandemic, is in fifth place with 16,527, adding 32 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 14 deaths over seven days for 0.9 percent with an average of 46 per week since the first death. The U.S. figure is 3.1 percent with the world at 4.8 percent.
Miami-Dade rose to 3,706 with 63 more in seven days and 106 average since the first death. Broward is at 1,581 with the increase of 36 in a week and average of 45 since the first fatality. St. Lucie has gone up by 6 deaths compared with Martin by 2, Indian River none and Okeechobee 1.
Palm Beach County's death count is higher than 19 states, including Oklahoma's 1,493 with 12 reported Friday.
Hillsborough is fourth place with an increase of 2 to 857 as Pinellas increased by 1 to 850 in fifth place, Polk rose by 3 to 647 in sixth, Orange decreased by 1 to 601 in seventh and Lee climbed by 4 to 542 in eighth.
The state report Friday identified 5 deaths in Palm Beach County: 3 women (63, 74, 76) and 2 men (79,87).
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 870,552, third in the nation and 15th in cases per million.
Texas is in first place with 1,004,983, adding 10,542, according to the state website. California is at 998,502 with 6,893 more. New York, which was the leader during much of the pandemic, is in fourth at 551,163 with an increase of 5,401, the most since 5,902 on April 26.
Twenty-eight states reported at least 2,000 cases, including No. 5 Illinois with a U.S. record of 15,415, topping Florida's 15,300, and fourth day in a row of setting marks. Eight others set state records, mainly in the Midwest: No.13 Michigan with 9,149, No. 10 Ohio with 8,057, No. 8 Wisconsin with 7,777, No. 29 Kansas with 6,047 (doesn't report data daily), No. 23 Iowa with 5,409, No. 28 Kentucky with 3,614, No. 17 Alabama with 2,980, No. 29 Arkansas with 2,312.
Others with high numbers were: No. 14 Pennsylvania with 5,834, No. 16 Indiana with 5,600, No. 18 Minnesota with 5,544, No. 9 Tennessee with 3,733, No. 19 Louisiana with 3,492, No. 11 New Jersey with 3,254, No. 12 Arizona with 3,015.
Miami-Dade's cases of 1,876 compared with 1,205 the day before and Broward's increase was 509 vs. 857. In the Treasure Coast area, the rise over one day was Martin 17 vs. 23, St. Lucie 47 vs. 59, Indian River 43 vs. 53 and Okeechobee 7 vs. 14.
Testing
The state is no longer listing a running total of Floridians tested or total tests. Worldometers.info lists Florida with 10,783,307 total tests behind No. 1 California and No. 2 New York with Texas fourth and Illinois fifth.
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 decreased to 9.16 percent from a two-week high of 9.30 percent one day earlier and a two-week low of 5.5 on Oct. 31. The rate hit 26.4 on July 8. Broward's rate was a two-week high of 8.88 one day after 7.42.4, a two-week high of 8.15 six days ago and a two-week low of 4.32 Oct. 30.
Elsewhere, St. Lucie's rate was 5.48 percent one day after 7.18, a two-week high of 9.12 four days ago and a 14-day low of 3.04 five days ago. Martin's rate was 4.2 percent one day after 5.37, a two-week low of 2.49 seven days ago and a two-week high of 6.32 on Nov. 3. Indian River's rate was 7.47 percent one day after 7.05, a two-week high of 10.0 four days ago and a two-week low of 3.71 on Oct. 30. Okeechobee's rate was 4.71 percent on 182 negative tests one day after 7.98 percent on 150 negative tests, a two-week high of 19.72 on 57 negative tests six 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 neared 1,309,000 deaths and passed 53.7 million cases Thursday, according to Worldometers.info.
Palm Beach County's rate is 2.9 percent 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 812 deaths per 1 million people compared with the U.S. average of 755 per million. New York, which represents 14.0 percent of the deaths in the nation, has 1,745 per million. Worldwide, the figure is 167.9 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 101 people from 25 to 34 also have died from the virus with no change.
A total of 5,549 people 85 and older have died in the state from the virus, an increase of 25 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 14,429 cases of infants to 4 years old, an increase of 110, and 336 were hospitalized, which increased by 2. From ages 5-14, there are 39,056, an increase of 386, with 310 in the hospital at one time, which didn't change.
From the infant to 54 age group, there are 619,446 of the 858,585 residents' cases. In that group, 1,154 have died, with an increase of 3, for a 0.19 death percentage. From infant to 64, there are 730,918 cases. A total of 3,074 have died, with 8 more, for a 0.42 percentage.
Cities
West Palm Beach is in first place among Palm Beach County cities with 10,571 with an increase of 81; Lake Worth, which includes the city and county portion, increased by 61 to 9,118 followed by Boca Raton at 8759 up from 8,685, Boynton Beach went to 5,069 from 5,026 and Delray Beach at 3,933 vs. 3,906. A total of 1,889 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 7,5573, an increase of 31, followed by Fort Pierce at 3,225, up 8, and Stuart with 2,602, which rose by 7.
In Indian River County, Fellsmere, which has a population of 5,754, remained at 450 with only 3 on May 31.
Hospitalizations
A total of 51,542 people in the state have been hospitalized, a rise from 50,265 seven days ago. That means it is a running total and includes people who have been released or died.
The number is 4,316 in Palm Beach County, with 11 more compared with 11 the day before. Martin rose by 1 to 436, St. Lucie by 5 to 834, Indian River by 1 at 384 and Okeechobee by 1 to 200.
Long-term care
Forty percent of the deaths, 6,976 are residents and staff of long-term care, including 732 in Palm Beach County, which is second most in the state behind 855 in Miami-Dade. The state increase was 22 and Palm Beach County didn't change.
Nation
Since the first death was reported on Feb. 29, the national toll has risen to 244,302, a rise of a world-high 1,401 Friday, according to Johns Hopkins. Worldometers.info has tabulated 249,975 deaths with an increase of 1,395. And the Covid Project has recorded 235,629 with an increase of 1,241.
Cases rose to 10,727,885, a rise of a record 175,064, surpassing the mark of 146,706 Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins. COVID Tracking Project lists the case increase as a record 170,333 one day after the former mark of 153,496. Worldometers.info has it at as 183,527, beating the past mark of record 162,226 Thursday.
Last Friday in the U.S., there were 1,135 more deaths and 124,908 cases.
The one week U.S. death increase was 7,297 at 3.1 percent.
New York has the most deaths in the nation at 33,741 with Johns Hopkins reporting 25 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 45, No. 7 Massachusetts 22, No. 8 Pennsylvania 35, No. 9 Georgia 24 and No. 10 Michigan 123 (most since 140 on May 9).
Also, No. 11 Arizona reported 17 deaths, No. 19 Tennessee with 64, No. 25 Wisconsin with 58, No. 14 Indiana with 50. No. 26 Washington, the original epicenter in the U.S., added 20 deaths.
Worldwide
The U.S. represented 14.0 percent of 9,9942 deaths Friday 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 59,639 at 4.8 percent.
Last Friday's death increase was 9,247.
Cases increased a record 656,180 surpassing the mark of 643,500 the day before and passing 500,00 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 614 to rise to 164,946. Brazil's record is 1,554 on July 29. The nation added 35,849 cases and is at 5,819,496 in third place.
India reported 44,879 new cases compared with a world-record 97,894 in September for second-place behind the U.S., with 8,728,795. Also, India recorded 547 deaths, behind a national-record 1,299, to rise to 128,668 and in third place.
Mexico announced 568 more deaths late Friday compared with a high of 1,092 on June 4 for a total of 97,624 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 4,682 deaths and 280,080 cases.
Four European nations are in the top 10. The United Kingdom reported 376 deaths, as well 27,301 cases one day 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 550 and a record 40,902 cases. No. 7 France announced 932 deaths, the most since a record of 1,437 in April, as well as 23,794 cases after a record 86,852 Saturday. No. 8 Spain reported 308 deaths and 21,371 cases, behind a record 22,516 last Friday.
No. 9 Iran reported 462 deaths, which tied a record two days ago, and 11,737, two days after a record 11,780. No. 10 Peru added 30 deaths.
Russia is in fourth place in the world in cases with 1,880,551, including a record 21,983. The nation gained a record 411 deaths in 13th.
No. 22 Canada reported 60 deaths for a total of 10,828 and 4,741 cases one day after a record 5,516.
Sweden, which has been doing "herd immunity" with no lockdown, reported 10 deaths and is at 6,164, and lately hasn't reported cases data. Neighboring Norway reported 3 deaths to rise to 294, as well as 257 more cases.
No. 35 China, the original epicenter of the world, hasn’t reported a death since April 26, added 18 cases Saturday.
