Florida passes 300,000 cases

Florida reported 10,181 new coronavirus cases Wednesday to push the total past 300,000, and 112 new fatalities to bring the death toll to 4,521.

There have now been 301,810 cases statewide, according to the Florida Department of Health, which also reported a record in new hospitalizations.

Central Florida now has 49,211 cases, up 1,583 from a day earlier.

Florida broke its one-day record for coronavirus deaths Tuesday with another 132 fatalities reported as the state sees a skyrocketing fatality rate that’s near the highest in the nation. However, Tuesday’s total likely includes deaths from not only Monday, but some from the weekend that were not reported earlier.

For the latest weekly period ended Sunday, Florida reported 511 additional deaths, by far the most since the pandemic began. The previous weekly record for new deaths statewide was 342 in early May.

Central Florida had 24 of the deaths reported Wednesday, bringing the regional toll to 479.

These include nine new deaths in Orange: men ages 26, 78, two aged 81, 90 and 95; and women ages 42, 65 and 81.

Three new victims in Seminole were a man aged 78 and women ages 79 and 85.

One woman each in Lake (age 74) and Volusia (77) died.

There were six new deaths in Brevard, men ages 59, 83, 84, and women ages 86, 91 and 101.

Four women in Polk, ages 39, 80, 81, and 90.

Polk County, due to nursing-home outbreaks, has the most coronavirus fatalities in Central Florida with 155, followed by 94 in Orange, 79 in Volusia, 40 in Brevard, 37 in Osceola, 28 each in Lake and Seminole, and 18 in Sumter.

As of Wednesday, there are 532 new cases Orange for 19,909; 325 in Polk for 8,206; 176 in Osceola for 4,751; 129 in Seminole for 4,665; 192 in Volusia for 4,355; 90 in Brevard for 3,722; 99 in Lake for 2,882; and 40 in Sumter for 721.

Statewide, the latest positivity rate made available by the Florida Department of Health, for Tuesday, was 13.6%.

Over 2.7 million people have been tested in Florida, with 50,803 more tests — about 2,000 less than the daily average for July — reported Wednesday compared with the previous day. Over 1.7 million of those tests have been given since May 31.

Testing has doubled in the past month, going from about 25,000 tests per day to almost 50,000, but the percentage of people testing positive has risen even more dramatically. A month ago, fewer than 5% of tests came up positive on a daily average.

South Florida, home to 29% of Florida’s population, accounts for about 43% of cases with 129,258 total. That includes 4,362 new cases reported Wednesday among Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties.

South Florida’s reported deaths on Wednesday rose by 37 for a total of 2,300, about half the state’s total.

To date, 19,334 Florida residents have been hospitalized, Florida’s COVID-19 dashboard shows, 453 more than a day earlier, a record increase. The previous record for new hospitalizations had been July 10 with 435.

Across Florida, 8,229 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of 11 a.m. Wednesday. The state’s online tool updates several times throughout the day with the newly released numbers.

Orange County reported 598 patients hospitalized for COVID, Osceola with 186, Seminole with 168, and Lake with 129 as of about 11 a.m. Wednesday.

The data for current COVID-19 patients do not differentiate between general hospital beds and intensive care units.

The virus has infected over 13.3 million people and has killed over 579,000 worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University & Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center. In the U.S., over 3.4 million people have been infected and over 136,000 killed.