State sets another death record
Four days has seen for morbid records as the Florida Department of Health reported Friday another 257 coronavirus fatalities to bring the state death toll for its residents to 6,843.
The 257 was slightly more than Thursday’s report of 253, but that makes for more than 500 deaths reported in the last two days and more than 900 in just four days. Another 123 non-Florida residents have died because of COVID-19.
When state health officials report a death in the daily update, the number encompasses several days, with actual days of death occurring weeks prior in some cases. The state maintains a chart of actual days of death on its COVID dashboard showing the deadliest days as July 17 with 134 fatalities, but also more than 100 deaths each day between July 7-23.
Health experts said the uptick in deaths is expected as fatalities follow the surge in positive cases that took over the state earlier in July.
The state health department also reported new 9,007 infections for a total of 470,386 to date, which has been the sixth straight day with less than 10,000 positive COVID cases.
More than 3.6 million people have been tested in Florida, with 49,200 more tests reported Friday.
Central Florida on Thursday added 1,225 cases for a total of 74,303: 420 new cases in Orange for 29,011; 207 in Polk for 12,488; 189 in Osceola for 8,470; 127 in Volusia for 6,834; 68 in Seminole for 6,487; 87 in Brevard for 5,420; 108 in Lake for 4,516; and 19 in Sumter for 1,077. (See details on all Central Florida cases here).
Central Florida had 39 of the deaths reported Thursday, bringing the regional toll to 944 including 10 more in Seminole, seven in Osceola, six in Brevard, six in Polk, four in Orange, three in Volusia and three in Sumter County. There were no new deaths in Lake County reported.
Central Florida accounts for nearly 16% of the cases statewide and nearly 14% of the deaths. The region’s share of the state’s deaths has ticked up compared with June and the start of July, when it had steadily remained at under 9% of
Florida’s total.
Polk, due to nursinghome outbreaks, has the most coronavirus fatalities in Central Florida with 268, followed by 216 in Orange, 114 in Brevard, 112 in Volusia, 82 in Seminole, 71 in Osceola, 51 in Lake, and 30 in Sumter.
To date, 26,533 people have been hospitalized in Florida, the state’s COVID-19 dashboard shows, 516 more than a day earlier - the fourth day in a row with more than 500 new hospitalizations.
Daily new hospitalizations are up sharply over the past two weeks statewide. They had averaged 200 from June through mid-July.
Across Florida, 8,278 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of about 10:15 a.m. Friday. The state’s online tool updates several times throughout the day.
However, in Central Florida, hospitalizations seem to have reached their peak — at least for now — after reaching an all-time high. Still, doctors and public health experts caution that COVID-19 hospitalizations are nowhere close to their lowest point two months ago and may go up again if more people are infected.
Orange County reported 451 patients hospitalized, Osceola with 148, Seminole with 127, and Lake with 93 as of about 10:15 a.m. Friday.
Statewide, the latest positivity rate made available by the Florida Department of Health, for Wednesday, was 10.57%, the 13th day in a row of a positivity rate under 15%.
South Florida, home to 29% of Florida’s population, now has reported 207,147 postive cases, which is 4,223 than a day earlier. The three-county region is the epicenter of the pandemic in Florida, accounting for 44% of cases among Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties.
South Florida’s reported deaths on Thursday rose by 138 for a total of 3,135, nearly 46% of the state’s total.
The virus has infected over 17 million people and has killed over 673,000 worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University & Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center. In the U.S., nearly 4.5 million people have been infected and over 152,000 are dead.