FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Florida jumped ahead of New York in confirmed cases of covid-19 according to the CDC’s data, after the Sunshine State reported another 12,199 infections Saturday.

The state says 414,511 people have been diagnosed, placing it No. 2 in the nation and now in front of New York and its 406,506 cases. California leads the way with 425,616, based on the COVID Data Tracker from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Health departments in the three states are reporting similar data that confirm Florida has vaulted over New York for known cases during the pandemic.

The New York State Department of Health on Saturday announced a total of 411,200 infections; California on Friday listed 435,334 cases. Texas, another hot spot, reported 369,826 cases as of Friday.

With 21.5 million people, Florida ranks as the third most populous state, behind California (39.5 million) and Texas (29 million.) New York is fourth, with 19.5 million people.

Florida has reported an average of 10,993 cases per day over the past seven days, which is the biggest surge anywhere in the nation. Miami-Dade County, which topped 100,000 cases Saturday for the most infections anywhere in the state, is a major factor for the increase, statistics show.

Moreover, the true number of cases is likely to be significantly higher than what has been reported. CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield last month told reporters, “Our best estimate right now is that for every case that was reported, there actually are 10 other infections.”

The Florida Department of Health on Saturday reported another 126 people have died from covid-19 complications, for a total of 5,894 deaths in Florida. Statistics show that 82% of residents who have died were 65 or older.

The state’s death rate has been steadily rising for the past four weeks; the state has listed over 100 deaths on nine of the past 12 days. A record 173 fatalities were put on Thursday’s data release. Because of a reporting lag, many deaths happen weeks before showing up on the daily reports.

DEATHS

The official covid-19 death total for Florida reached 5,894 on Saturday. That figure includes 117 people who were not residents. The three South Florida counties account for 2,767 deaths, which is 46.9% of the state total.

Florida’s death rate is in the middle compared with other states. Florida’s death rate per 100,000 people was 25.9 as of Friday, CDC data show. The death rate is much higher in New York City with 279.4 deaths for 100,000. California has had 20.3 deaths per 100,000, and Texas has had 15.8 deaths.

At least 2,645 deaths have occurred in nursing homes and long-term care facilities, a figure that represents 45.8% of the state total for coronavirus deaths of residents.

Covid-19 is the state’s deadliest infectious disease, killing three times more Floridians a day than flu/pneumonia, AIDS and viral hepatitis combined, records show.

Florida says it has tested 3.34 million people since the pandemic began, and 12.4% have been positive. That’s the third-highest number of covid-19 tests in the country, behind California (6.8 million) and New York (5.4 million).

Florida on Saturday reported a 11.4% positivity rate for tests statewide in the previous 24-hour period.

The daily positivity rate is a key figure, since it’s one of the numbers that indicates the prevalence of the disease in the population. In May, Florida’s positivity rate was about 5%.

“We want to get it back to where it was when we reopened, and that’s 5 percent,” Dr. Alina Alonso, Palm Beach County’s health department director, told reporters. She pleaded with the public to follow social distancing and mask-wearing measures, noting, “This is really the only tool we have to bring down the number of cases.”

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