2,541 more cases push total past 693,000
177 new virus fatalities reported statewide
Florida added 2,541 coronavirus cases Thursday to push the statewide total to 693,040 infected. With 177 new virus fatalities reported statewide, 13,795 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 U.S. death toll from the coronavirus topped 200,000 on Tuesday, by far the highest in the world, hitting the once-unimaginable threshold six weeks before an election that is certain to be a referendum in part on President Trump’s handling of the crisis.
The Florida Department of Health hasn’t reported a daily increase above 10,000 infections since July 25. But testing has declined statewide, to a daily average of about 23,500 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 5.1 million people have been tested in Florida, with 23,521 more tests reported Thursday compared with the previous day.
Statewide, the latest positivity rate reported by the Florida Department of Health was 4.45%, 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 5.73%.
Central Florida on Thursday added 418 cases for a total of 109,232: 148 new cases in Orange for 39,560; 99 in Polk for 19,551; 39 in Osceola for 12,288; 38 in Volusia for 10,689; 2 removed from in Seminole’s count for 8,909; 58 in Brevard for 8,636; 29 in Lake for 7,394; and 9 in Sumter for 2,205.
Central Florida had 35 of
Thursday’s newly reported deaths, bringing the region’s toll to 2,088. Polk County, due to nursing-home outbreaks, has the most coronavirus fatalities in the region with 520, followed by 440 in Orange, 290 in Brevard, 238 in Volusia, 207 in Seminole, 184 in Lake, 144 in Osceola, and 65 in Sumter.
Central Florida accounts for nearly 16% of the cases statewide and 15% of the deaths. But infections have plateaued in Orange County at a level that the state’s top health official here called manageable and a sign that locals are “learning to live” with the virus.
COVID -19 hospitalizations have been steadily falling from mid-July highs of over 8,000. Across the state, 2,171 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 122 patients hospitalized, Osceola with 63, Seminole with 29, and Lake with 29 as of about about 10:45 a.m. Thursday.
To date, 43,128 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 42% of cases with 290,467 total. That includes 698 new cases reported Thursday among Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties.
South Florida’s reported deaths rose by 73 Thursday for a total of 5,851, about 42% of the state’s total.
The virus has infected nearly 32 million people and has killed over 977,000 worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University & Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center. Nationwide, over 6.9 million people have been infected and over 201,000 are dead.