Nearly 100K in Central Florida tested positive
Coronavirus testing down
Florida added 3,571 coronavirus cases Thursday to push the statewide total to 637,013 infected. In Central Florida, over 99,000 people have tested positive since the pandemic began. And with 149 new virus fatalities reported statewide Thursday, 11,650 Florida residents are now dead.
The state’s daily reports include deaths from several previous days, as it can take two weeks or more for fatalities to be logged.
The Florida Department of Health hasn’t reported a daily increase above 10,000 infections since July 25. Tuesday saw a spike of 7,569 newly reported cases due to a Quest Diagnostics data dump.
Florida health officials this week severed ties with Quest, one of the country’s largest health testing providers, after the company failed to submit timely results of 75,000 COVID-19 test results, some dating as far back as April.
Testing declined statewide in August, which saw an average of about 32,000 daily tests, compared with July, with about 54,400 daily.
Statewide, the latest positivity rate reported by the Florida Department of Health was 6.23%, 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 8.55%.
Central Florida on Thursday added 623 cases for a total of 99,300: 180 new cases in Orange for 36,668; 126 in Polk for 17,418; 44 in Osceola for 11,342; 106 in Volusia for 9,589; 42 in Seminole for 8,240; 41 in Brevard for 7,464; 41 in Lake for 6,622; and 43 in Sumter for 1,957.
Central Florida had 26 of Thursday’s newly reported deaths, bringing the region’s toll to 1,754. Polk County, due to nursing-home outbreaks, has the most coronavirus fatalities in the region with 461, followed by 386 in Orange, 223 in Brevard,196 in Volusia, 175 in Seminole, 132 in Osceola, 126 in Lake, and 55 in Sumter.
Central Florida accounts for nearly 16% of the cases statewide and about 15% of the deaths.
COVID-19 hospitalizations have been steadily falling. Across the state, 3,438 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of about 11 a.m. Thursday. The state’s online tool updates several times throughout the day.