Florida coronavirus: 3,356 new infections

141 more virus fatalities listed

Florida added 3,356 coronavirus cases Thursday to bring the statewide total to 744,988 infected. With 141 new virus fatalities reported statewide, 15,736 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.

Testing has declined statewide, to a daily average of about 23,300 since Sept.1. That’s down from about 32,000 daily tests on average in August and 54,400 a day in July.

Over 5.6 million people have been tested in Florida, with 28,286 more tests reported Thursday compared with the previous day.

Statewide, the latest positivity rate reported by the Florida Department of Health was 5.2%, 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 6.7%.

Central Florida on Thursday added 622 cases for a total of 119,171: 206 new cases in Orange for 42,778; 102 in Polk for 21,456; 63 in Osceola for 13,313; 90 in Volusia for 11,7 3 9 ; 73 Brevard for 10,183; 37 Seminole for 9,561; 35 Lake for 8,047; and 16 Sumter for 2,716.

Central Florida had 27 of Thursday’s newly reported deaths, bringing the region’s toll to 2,433. Polk County, due to nursinghome outbreaks, has the most coronavirus fatalities in the region with 569, followed by 528 in Orange, 337 in Brevard, 299 in Volusia, 233 in Seminole, 211 in Lake, 178 in Osceola, and 78 in Sumter.

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

COVID -19 hospitalizations have been steadily falling from mid-July highs in in in in of over 8,000. Across the state, 2,122 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 143 patients hospitalized, Osceola with 72, Seminole with 23, and Lake with 40 as of about 11 a.m. Thursday.

To date, 46,693 people have been hospitalized in Florida, the st a t e ’s COVID -19 dashboard shows.

South Florida, home to 29% of Florida’s population, accounts for 41% of cases with 305,417. That includes 933 new cases reported Thursday among Miami-Dade, Broward, and

Palm Beach counties.

South Florida’s reported deaths rose by 31 on Thursday for a total of 6,465, 41% of the state’s total.

The virus has infected over 38 million people and has killed over 1 million worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University & Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center. Nationwide, over 7.9 million people have been infected and over 216,000 are dead.