5,294 new infections, 87 more die

Polk County has the most COVID-19 fatalities in the region at 1,254

Florida added 5,294 coronavirus cases Wednesday to bring the cumulative total to 2,057,735. With 87 more fatalities, 33,425 Florida residents are now dead.

COVID deaths across the state are rising, but March is averaging 83 resident deaths reported a day vs. 156 deaths a day on average reported in February.

As of Wednesday’s report, the latest sevenday case count is 36,080, compared to the seven days before that which was 32,632.

For deaths, it’s 575 in the past seven days, compared with 346 for the seven days before that.

Each report includes deaths from several previous days, as it can take two weeks or more for fatalities to be logged.

To date, 86,629 people have been hospitalized in Florida, according to the state’s report, which includes 232 newly reported hospitalizations since Tuesday’s update.

Across the state, 2,944 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of about 1 p.m. Wednesday, including 147 in Orange County, 74 in Osceola, 45 in Lake and 61 in Seminole. The state’s online tool updates several times throughout the day.

Statewide, 5,871,740 people have received at least one vaccination shot including 3,307,323 who have completed their shot regimen, whether it’s the two-dose Pfizer or Moderna option or the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The count is a snapshot through Tuesday, based on the report released Wednesday.

Of those who have received at least the first dose, 3,324,858 are over the age of 65.

To date, 11,883,434 people have been tested in Florida, 23,975 more than Tuesday’s total.

Statewide, the latest positivity rate reported Wednesday for Tuesday’s test results by the Florida Department of Health was 6.67%, 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 8.27%.

Central Florida added 1,022 cases Wednesday for a total of 365,438: 331 more in Orange for 123,683; 156 more in Polk for 61,175; 83 in Osceola for 39,604; 196 in Volusia for 38,265; 74 in Brevard for 37,190; 97 in Seminole for 30,052; 75 in Lake for 26,679; and 10 in Sumter for 8,790.

There were 15 new deaths across all eight Central Florida counties, bringing the region’s toll to 5,779; Sumter County’s total was one less than what was reported Tuesday.

Polk County has the most coronavirus fatalities in the region with 1,254, followed by 1,186 in Orange, 808 in Brevard, 717 in Volusia, 606 in Lake, 485 in Osceola, 466 in Seminole and 257 in Sumter.

The virus has infected over 128.4 million people and has killed over 2.8 million worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University & Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center. Nationwide, over 30.4 million people have been infected and over 551,000 have died.