State reports 174 additional resident deaths, 1,948 cases
Florida added 1,948 coronavirus cases Wednesday to push the statewide total to 706,516 infected. With 174 new virus fatalities reported statewide, 14,317 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. But testing has declined statewide, to a daily average of about 22,800 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 5.3 million people have been tested in Florida, with 11,055 more tests reported Wednesday compared with the previous day.
Florida will receive 6.4 million antigen tests from the federal government to help the state protect vulnerable residents, DeSantis said Tuesday.
Statewide, the latest positivity rate reported by the Florida Department of Health was 5.03%, 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 6.35%.
Central Florida on Wednesday added 450 cases for a total of 111,863: 105 new cases in Orange for 40,329; 58 in Polk for 20,032; 43 in Osceola for 12,556; 47 in Volusia for 10,945; 44 in Seminole for 9,097; 66 in Brevard for 9,049; 25 in Lake for 7,542; and 62 in Sumter for 2,313.
Central Florida had 34 of Wednesday’s newly reported deaths, bringing the region’s toll to 2,166. Polk County, due to nursinghome outbreaks, has the most coronavirus fatalities in the region with 531, followed by 458 in Orange, 298 in Brevard, 249 in Volusia, 214 in Seminole, 193 in Lake, 153 in Osceola, and 70 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, 2,098 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of about noon Wednesday. The state’s online tool updates several times throughout the day.
Orange County reported 116 patients hospitalized, Osceola with 71, Seminole with 30, and Lake with 35 as of about about noon Wednesday
To date, 44,108 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 294,172 total. That includes 479 new cases reported Wednesday among Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties.
South Florida’s reported deaths rose by 68 Wednesday for a total of 6,045, about 42% of the state’s total.
The virus has infected over 33.7 million people and has killed over 1 million worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University & Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center. Nationwide, over 7.1 million people have been infected and over 206,000 are dead.