Deaths among state residents pass 13,000

3,255 new cases added Thursday across the state

Florida added 3,255 coronavirus cases Thursday to push the statewide total to 674,456 infected. With 147 new virus fatalities reported statewide Thursday, 13,086 Florida residents are now dead.

Each report includes 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.

Testing has declined statewide, to a daily average of about 23,000 so far in September. That’s down from about 32,000 daily tests on average in August and 54,400 a day in July.

Over 5 million people have been tested in Florida, with 26,964 more tests reported Thursday compared with the previous day.

Statewide, the latest positivity rate reported by the Florida Department of Health was 4.46%, 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 5.68%.

Central Florida on Thursday added 581 cases for a total of 105,685: 180 new cases in Orange for 38,422; 109 in Polk for 18,783; 36 in Osceola for 11,919; 57 in Volusia for10,364; 59 in Seminole for 8,694; 96 in Brevard for 8,193; 36 in Lake for 7,173; and 8 in Sumter for 2,137.

Central Florida had 30 of Thursday’s newly reported deaths, bringing the region’s toll to 1,974. Polk County, due to nursing-home outbreaks, has the most coronavirus fatalities in the region with 503, followed by 426 in Orange, 270 in Brevard, 214 in Volusia, 197 in Seminole, 163 in Lake, 137 in Osceola, and 64 in Sumter.

Central Florida accounts for nearly 16% of the cases statewide and 15% of the deaths.

COVID -19 hospitalizations have been steadily falling from mid-July highs of over 8,000. Across the state, 2,383 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of about 11 a.m. Thursday. The state’s online tool updates several times throughout the day.

Orange County reported 111 patients hospitalized, Osceola with 47, Seminole with 36, and Lake with 37 as of about about 11 a.m. Thursday

To date, 42,047 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 42% of cases with 285,326 total. That includes 888 new cases reported Thursday among Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties.

South Florida’s reported deaths on Thursday rose by 56 for a total of 5,542, about 42% of the state’s total.

The virus has infected over 29 million people and has killed over 941,000 worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University & Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center.

Nationwide, over 6.6 million people have been infected and over 196,000 are dead.