Florida reports an additional 3,269 coronavirus cases, 135 more deaths

Florida added 3,269 coronavirus cases Thursday to push the statewide total to 611,991 infected. With 135 new virus fatalities reported Thursday, 10,868 Florida residents are now dead.

The state Department of Health hasn’t reported a daily increase above 10,000 infections since July 25.

The state’s daily reports include deaths from several previous days, as it can take two weeks or more for fatalities to be logged.

Over 4.5 million people have been tested in Florida, with 24,563 more tests reported Thursday compared with the previous day. Testing has been way down in August compared with July, when an average of about 54,000 test results were processed d a i l y. This month, the average has been about 33,000 daily tests.

Statewide, the latest positivity rate reported by the Florida Department of Health was 6.36%, but that’s for new cases only and excludes anyone who previously tested positive. For all cases including retests of those previously infected, the latest positivity rate is 9.04%.

Central Florida on Thursday added 509 cases for a total of 94,787: 162 new cases in Orange for 35,245; 71 in Polk for 16,569; 48 in Osceola for 10,892; 57 in Volusia for 9,126; 57 in Seminole for 7,896; 52 in Brevard for 7,092; 50 in Lake for 6,213; and 12 in Sumter for 1,754.

Central Florida had 14 of Thursday’s newly reported deaths, bringing the region’s toll to 1,629. Polk, due to nursing-home outbreaks, has the most coronavirus fatalities in the region with 425, followed by 369 in Orange, 205 in Brevard, 186 in Volusia, 169 in Seminole, 128 in Osceola, 99 in Lake, and 48 in Sumter.

Central Florida accounts for about 15% of the cases statewide and also 15% 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.

Across the state, 4,294 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of about 10:45 a.m. Thursday. The state’s online tool updates several times throughout the day.

Orange County reported 201 patients hospitalized, Osceola with 82, Seminole with 68, and Lake with 76 as of about 10:45 a.m. Thursday

To date, 37,718 people have been hospitalized in Florida, the st a t e ’s COVID -19 dashboard shows.

But those numbers could include cases that are weeks old.

South Florida, home to 29% of Florida’s population, accounts for about 44% of cases with 266,099 total. That includes 1,068 new cases reported Thursday among Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties.