Florida reports record 156 deaths, plus near-high for new coronavirus cases

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Florida got a nasty one-two punch of coronavirus news on Thursday: The state reported 156 more deaths and 13,965 more covid-19 cases.

The state has never reported more fatalities on a daily pandemic report before, and there’s only been one other day with more infections. Also troubling are reports showing that hospitalizations for the disease are soaring by the hundreds each day.

This dismal accounting came a day after Florida topped 300,000 cases, and continued a trajectory that has South Florida leaders fearful of imposing more restrictions on residents.

Florida’s all-time high for cases in a day is 15,300, which happened Sunday.

Almost 4,700 Floridians have died from covid-19 complications, and half of the deaths occurred in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties, according to the state Department of Health.

South Florida, which accounts for 29% of Florida’s population, reported 5,600 new cases in the past day, or 41.1% of the daily total for the state, according to the state Department of Health.

The number of people being treated for covid-19 at hospitals jumped by 884 on Thursday, according to the Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration. The total is 9,099 patients statewide, as of 12:01 p.m.

Miami-Dade County has the most people hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of covid-19, with 1,888.

Florida says it has tested 2.8 million people since the pandemic began, and 11.2% have been positive. That’s 315,775 people with infections.

That’s the third-highest number of covid-19 tests in the nation, behind California (5.8 million) and New York (4.8 million.)

Florida reported a 12.9% positivity rate for tests in the previous 24-hour period, down from Wednesday’s 13.6%. This is a key figure to indicate the prevalence of the disease. In May, after the state reopened, Florida’s positivity rate hovered around 5% for covid-19 testing.

Public health experts say a positivity rate of 10% or less is optimal. The World Health Organization has recommended a positivity rate of 5% before countries start to reopen.

The official COVID-19 death total for Florida stood at 4,782 on Thursday. That figure includes 105 non-residents. The three big South Florida counties have had 2,400 total deaths, which is 50.2% of the statewide total.

At least 2,255 deaths have occurred in nursing homes and long-term care facilities, a figure that represents 48.2% of the state’s total for coronavirus deaths of residents. Broward accounted for 169 deaths or 7.5% of the long-term care facility deaths. Miami-Dade accounted for 568 deaths, or 25.2%, and Palm Beach County had 266 deaths, or 11.8%.