WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida's newly reported coronavirus deaths surged to a U.S.-high 200 as the total toll of residents passed 12,000 –12 days after hitting the 11,000 milestone – and cases increased by 2,056 after back-to-back days under 2,000, the Florida Health Department announced Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the first-time positivity rates spiked to 5.94 percent after three days under 5: 4.91, then 4.54, 4.94. In Palm Beach County, the rate rose to 5.93, the highest in two weeks after four days in a row under 5: 3.19, then 3.66, two-week low of 3.09, then 4.91.
The daily rate for all tests increased to 8.15 on 44,063 tests reported by the labs to the state Tuesday compared with 6.81 on 40,894 tests. The two-week high was 10.32 percent with a data dump by Quest Diagnostics last week.
The last time there were 200 or more deaths was 212 on Aug. 18 with the state record 276 on Aug. 11.
On Tuesday, one day after Labor Day, the death increase was 44 after trending lower for four days: 22 Monday, 38 Sunday, 61 Saturday, 100 Friday and 149 Thursday. Last Wednesday's increase was 150.
Since the first two deaths were announced on March 6, the death toll has climbed to 12,115 and 12,269 including 154 nonresidents, which rose by 2.
Florida is in fifth place in the United States. On June 16, Florida was in 11th place in the nation.
Texas is in fourth place with the addition of 139 deaths Wednesday after a state-record 324 on Aug. 11, for a total of 13,692. California reported 83 new deaths and is in third place overall with 13,814.
For two days in a row the state's cases were under 1,900 –1,823 Tuesday and 1,838 Monday. Cases have been under 2,000 only one other time in three months – 1,885 last Monday. On June 15, cases increased 1,758.
Palm Beach County's death total rose by 8 to 1,178, third highest in the state behind Miami-Dade and Broward, after 2 deaths were reported Tuesday.
On the Treasure Coast, St. Lucie County rose by 6 to 252, Martin increased by 3 to 123 and Indian River remained at 104. Okeechobee stayed at 20 with its first two deaths on July 25.
Broward increased by 10 and Miami-Dade rose by 74.
In South Florida, there were 101 of the 200 deaths, 50.5 percent, for a total of 5,661 at 46.6 percent though the population only comprises 30 percent.
Pinellas rose by 15 to 693 deaths in fourth place and Hillsborough went up by 3 to 568 in fifth place. Polk increased by 11 to 480 in sixth and Lee rose by 1 to 442.
Palm Beach County's daily cases increased by 113 after 222 the day before and 100 last week.
Florida's new hospitalizations rose by 322 compared with 112 the day before. The state reported Wednesday there are currently 3,076 hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, which is 80 less than the day before.
Deaths
It took 49 days for the death toll to reach the first 1,000 yet it was only 40 days to more than double.
Less than two months ago there, July 20, there were 5,075 deaths. It took 8 days to pass 6,000, 4 to pass 7,000, 7 to pass 8,000, 6 to pass 9,000, 5 to pass 10,000, 10 to pass 11,000.
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: 150 on Aug. 10.
In a state list of cases and deaths released Wednesday, it reported 1 death was removed after further determining a cause of death.
Deaths rose by 614 in the state over seven days (a daily average of 88) for 5.3 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 rose by 44 for 3.9 percent. The U.S. figure is 2.7 percent with the world at 4.5 percent.
Miami-Dade climbed to 2,740, which is 186 more in one week. Broward increased to 1,244 with a rise of 47 in one week. St. Lucie has risen by 15 deaths in one week compared with Martin by 5, Indian River by 1 death and Okeechobee by 5.
Palm Beach County's death count is higher than 21 states, including Rhode Island's 1,062 after adding 3. Ahead of Florida is Iowa with 1,198, adding 18, and Wisconsin at 1,183, adding 15.
The state on Wednesday identified 8 deaths in Palm Beach County: 5 men (62, 72, 74, 78, 84) and 3 women (48, 50, 99). St. Lucie's deaths were 3 men (53, 56, 88) and 3 women (61, 3, 86). Martin reported the death of an 88-year-old man, which became a case on May 23, and two women (71, 73).
Cases
Since the first two cases were announced on March 1, Florida's total has surged to 3.0 percent of the state's 21.48 million population with 652,148, second in the nation. The average over six months is 3,397 per day.
In one week, cases have risen by 18,706, which average 2,672 per day, at 3.0 percent, a percentage that has been steadily decreasing.
Cases passed 600,000 Aug. 23 and 500,000 on Aug. 5.
California has the most cases in the U.S. at 739,527 with the addition of 1,616. Texas had a U.S.-high 4,285, and is third overall with 645,791. New York, which was the leader during much of the pandemic, is in fourth at 441,154 with 576 more.
Florida's daily case increases have been below 10,000 since July 26 when they climbed by 12,199. Early in the pandemic, cases were under 1,000 with the last one of three digits 966 on June 8.
The cases record was 15,300 was July 5 – the highest daily 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 43,422, including residents and nonresidents.
Miami-Dade's cases were 407 compared with 389 and Broward's increase was 140 vs. 130. In the Treasure Coast area, the rise over one day was 12 in St. Lucie, 9 in Indian River, 1 in Okeechobee, Martin decreased by 76. The state makes changes in cases totals, including eliminating duplicates and mis-coding by county.
Testing
Florida's total number of people tested is 4,838,264, fourth in the nation, behind No. 1 New York, No. 2 California and No. 3 Texas. That Florida figure is 22.5 percent of Florida's population.
The overall positive rate remained at 13.48.
The daily rate at one time was around 2-3 percent. The two-week high was 11.35 on Aug. 24 and the record is 20.71 percent on July 8.
The record test total was 142,964 July 11.
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 was 6.25 percent after 5.44 one day earlier, a two-week low of 5.01 two days ago and a two-week high of 9.54, which included the Quest data dump, on Aug. 31. The rate hit 26.4 on July 8. Broward's rate was 4.26 after four days under 4 percent, including a low of 3.09 two days ago and the high 5.83 on Aug. 26.
Elsewhere, St. Lucie's rate was 7.18 compared with 3.69 the day before, a two-week low of 3.1 on Aug. 30 and a high of 6.34 on Aug. 31. Martin's rate spiked to a two-week high of 8.97 after 7.33 and two days under 3 percent. Indian River's rate was 4.17 percent after 3.82, 6 days near 2 percent and below over two weeks and a high of 5.0 on Aug. 26. Okeechobee's rate was 6.45 on 29 negative tests after 4.17 on 69 negative tests, a low of 2.5 on 156 negative tests, a high of 11.11 on Aug. 31 on 40 negative tests, including the Quest data dump.
Palm Beach County has 43,422 cases out of 337,716 total tested for 12.86 percent overall, not including those awaiting tests and inconclusive.
Miami-Dade leads with 162,433 positive cases out of 846,759 tested for 19.18 percent, and Broward is second with 73,556 cases and 524,856 tested for 14.01 percentage.
In Martin County, it's 4,484 of 31,980 for 14.15 percent. In St. Lucie, it's 7,378 out of 54,620 for 13.1 percent, Indian River with 2,930 of 32,310 for 9.07 percent and Okeechobee 1,289 of 10,187 for 12.65 percent.
Mortality rate
The mortality rate compares positive cases against deaths.
The state's rate is 1.9 percent for all deaths and cases, including nonresidents, compared with 3.0 percent in the United States and 3.3 percent worldwide, which passed 902,000 deaths and neared 27.8 million cases Wednesday, according to Johns Hopkins.
Palm Beach County's rate was 2.7 percent, compared with Broward at 1.7 percent and Miami-Dade with 1.7 percent. With much fewer deaths, the mortality rate is 3.4 percent in St. Lucie, 2.6 percent in Martin, 3.6 percent in Indian River and 1.6 percent in Okeechobee.
Florida has 564 deaths per 1 million people compared with the U.S. average of 590 per million. New York, which represents 17.4 percent of the deaths in the nation, has 1,701 per million. Worldwide, the figure is 116.4 per million.
Age breakdown
The median age for all deaths in Florida is 79.
Four deaths are among youths 14 and under: a 6-year-old from Hillsborough, a 9-year-year old from Putnam and two 11-year-olds, a boy in Miami-Dade and a girl in Broward. This class did not change.
Four other juveniles are among the 29 deaths in the 15-24 class: 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 did not change.
Eighty-two people from 25 to 34 also have died from the virus with no change.
A total of 3,906 people 85 and older have died in the state from the virus, an increase of 42 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 11,025 cases of infants to 4 years old, an increase of 34, and 254 were hospitalized, which went up by 2 From ages 5-14, there are 26,910 an increase of 101 with 230 in the hospital at one time, an increase of 4.
From the infant to 54 age group, 464,187 of the 644,781 residents' cases. In that group, 829 have died, with an increase of 9, for a 0.18 death percentage. From infant to 64, there are 546,529 cases. A total of 2,141 have died, an increase of 39, for a 0.39 percentage.
Cities
West Palm Beach is in first place among Palm Beach County cities with 10,809, with an increase of 29. Lake Worth, which includes the city and county portion, rose 113 to 7,634 followed by Boca Raton at 6,066, up from 6,037, Boynton Beach at 3,845 from 3,843 and Delray Beach at 2,980 vs. 2,974. A total of 971 in the county not designated by a city.
Port St. Lucie leads the Treasure Coast with 4,321, an increase of 12 followed by Fort Pierce at 2,643, up 2, and Stuart with 2,093, which was a decrease of 38.
In Indian River County, Fellsmere, which has a population of 5,754, remained at 397 compared with only 3 on May 31.
Hospitalizations
A total of 40,517 people in the state have been hospitalized, a rise from 39,158seven days ago. That means it is a running total and includes people who have been released or died.
The number is 3,446 in Palm Beach County, a rise of 17 compared with 5 the day before; 382 in Martin, which didn't change; 573 in St. Lucie with an increases of 27, Indian River went up by 1 to 273 and Okeechobee went from 143 to 145.
Long-term care
Forty-two percent of the deaths, 5,035, are residents and staff of long-term care, including 507 in Palm Beach County, which is second most in the state behind 742 in Miami-Dade. The state increase was 62 and in Palm Beach County it went up by 2.
National
Since the first death was reported six months ago on Feb. 29, the toll has risen to 190,796, a gain of 1,143, according to Johns Hopkins.
Cases reached 6,359,576 with an increase of 32,567. 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 1,056 more deaths and 39,670 cases.
The one week U.S. death increase was 5,076 at 2.7 percent.
New York has the most deaths in the nation at 33,019 with 3 reported Wednesday, after a high of 799 in April.
Among other states in the top 10 for deaths: No. 2 New Jersey 7, No. 6 Massachusetts 5, No. 7 Illinois 28, No. 8 Pennsylvania 21, No. 9 Michigan 13, No. 10 Georgia 58.
Also, No. 11 Arizona reported 30 deaths, as well as an additional 496 cases. No. 23 Washington, the original epicenter in the United States, reported 25 deaths after reporting no data Tuesday.
Worldwide
The U.S. represented 24.0 percent of the 4,758 additional deaths Wednesday and 21.1 percent of the world total though its population is only 4.3 percent of the global total. The one week world death increase was 39,713 at 4.5 percent.
Last Wednesday's death increase was 6,013.
Cases increased by 311,612 after a record 313,115 on Friday, according to Johns Hopkins.
Brazil, which is second behind the United States for deaths, reported 1,136 deaths to rise to 128,653. Brazil's record is 1,554 on July 29. The nation added 34,208 cases at 4,199,332 in third place.
India reported a record and world high 1,115 additional deaths to rise to 73,890 and in third place. India reported 89,706 new cases to rise to 42,046,613 in second behind the U.S.
Mexico announced 611 more deaths late Wednesday compared with a high of 1,092 on June 4 for a total of 69,095 in fourth place.
Four European nations are in the top 10. The United Kingdom reported 8 additional deaths for 41,594 in fifth place with the record daily high 1,172. No. 6 Italy, which at one time was the world's epicenter and reached 919 in one day, reported 8 deaths. No. 7 France had 38 deaths and 8,577 cases and No. 9 Spain 34 deaths, as well as 8,866 cases.
No. 8 Peru gained 113 deaths and No. 10 Iran had 127
Russia is in fourth place in the world in cases with 1,041,007, including an additional 5,218. The nation gained 142 deaths and is in 12th.
No. 19 Canada reported 2 deaths to rise to 9,155 and 446 cases.
Sweden, which has been doing "herd immunity," reported 4 deaths and has 5,842 total. Neighboring Norway last reported a death on Aug. 20 to remain at 264, as well as 122 more cases.
No. 28 China, the original epicenter of the world, hasn’t reported a death since April 26, and added `7 cases Thursday.
Japan reported 16 deaths for a total of 1,393.
