Florida reports 3,198 new infections
Florida’s resident death toll climbed to 11,750 after the state Department of Health reported 100 new fatalities on Friday while tallying another 3,198 new positive cases of COVID-19.
Another 150 non-resident deaths have occurred in Florida to bring the combined toll to 11,900. The state’s daily reports include deaths from several previous days, as it can take as much as a month or more for fatalities to be logged.
Deaths have been falling, though, since the single-day high of193 on Aug.15, according to the DOH. The state saw more than 100 deaths a day from July 7-Aug. 14.
The new positive cases brings the statewide total to date to 640,211. Of that total, nearly100,000 have been in an eight-county region of Central Florida, or more than 15%.
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 that included tests up to five months old. Aside from that bump, state cases totals have been dropping since the high of 15,300 reported positive COVID-19 results on July 12, and the DOH has not reported more than 5,000 every day since Aug. 15 until Tuesday’s report.
Over 4.7 million people have been tested in Florida. 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 5.1%, 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 6.95%.
Central Florida on Friday added 646 cases for a total of 99,946: 159 new cases in
Orange for 36,827; 148 in Polk for 17,566; 64 in Osceola for 11,406; 59 in Volusia for 9,648; 59 in Seminole for 8,299; 68 in Brevard for 7,532; 61 in Lake for 6,683; and 28 in Sumter for 1,985.
Central Florida had 13 of Friday’s newly reported deaths, bringing the region’s toll to 1,767 including five in Brevard, three in Polk, two each in Lake and Seminole and one in Osceola. Polk County, due to nursing-home outbreaks, has the most coronavirus fatalities in the region with 464, followed by 386 in Orange, 228 in Brevard, 196 in Volusia, 177 in Seminole, 133 in Osceola, 128 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 from mid-July highs over 8,000. Across the state, 3,387 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of about 10 a.m. Friday. The state’s online tool updates several times throughout the day. That includes 45 patients in Orange County, 58 in Osceola, 49 in Seminole and 75 in Lake County.
To date, 39,667 people have been hospitalized in Florida, the state’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 43% of cases with 276,111 total. That includes 856 new cases reported Friday among Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties.
South Florida’s reported deaths on Friday rose by 48 for a total of 5,004 about 42% of the state’s total.
The virus has infected over 26.3 million people and has killed over 869,000 worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University & Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center. Nationwide, over 6.1 million people have been infected and over 186,000 are dead.