Florida added 7,650 coronavirus cases Thursday to push the statewide total to 510,389 infected. And with 120 new virus fatalities reported Thursday, 7,747 Florida residents are now dead.
It’s the 12th day in a row the Florida Department of Health reported an increase below 10,000 cases.
The state’s daily reports include deaths from several previous days, as it can take two weeks or more for fatalities to be logged.
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Over 3.8 million people have been tested in Florida, with 42,539 more tests — ramping back up after test sites closed over the weekend but still about 9,200 less than the daily average for July — reported Thursday compared with the previous day. Over 2.8 million tests have been administered since May 31.
Statewide, Florida’s Department of Health reported a positivity rate of 8.34% for Wednesday, but that’s for new cases only and excludes anyone who previously tested positive. For all cases including retests of those previously infected, yesterday’s positivity rate was 11.67%. (Read more: Florida’s hidden data skews COVID-19 test results)
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Central Florida on Thursday added 1,094 cases for a total of 79,978: 351 new cases in Orange for 30,776; 235 in Polk for 13,654; 130 in Osceola for 9,286; 116 in Volusia for 7,488; 106 in Seminole for 6,932; 82 in Brevard for 5,794; 46 in Lake for 4,840; and 28 in Sumter for 1,208. (See details on all Central Florida cases here).
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Central Florida had 43 of Thursday’s newly reported deaths, bringing the region’s toll to 1,142. Polk, due to nursing-home outbreaks, has the most coronavirus fatalities in Central Florida with 304, followed by 275 in Orange, 134 in Brevard, 124 in Volusia, 109 in Seminole, 96 in Osceola, 60 in Lake, and 40 in Sumter.
Central Florida accounts for nearly 16% of the cases statewide and nearly 15% of the deaths. The region’s share of the state’s deaths has ticked up compared with June and the start of July, when it had steadily remained at under 9% of Florida’s total.
To date, 29,131 people have been hospitalized in Florida, the state’s COVID-19 dashboard shows, up 558 more than a day earlier.
From June through mid-July in Florida, there were 200 new hospitalizations a day on average. That has spiked to a daily average of 440 since mid-July.
Across Florida, 7,348 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 382 patients hospitalized, Osceola with 139, Seminole with 111, and Lake with 91 as of about 11 a.m. Thursday.
South Florida, home to 29% of Florida’s population, accounts for about 44% of cases with 223,472 total. That includes 2,886 new cases reported Thursday among Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties.
South Florida’s reported deaths on Thursday rose by 18 for a total of 3,458, about 45% of the state’s total.
A detailed breakdown of Florida’s coronavirus cases can be found here, and county-by-county data can be found here.
List of mobile coronavirus and antibody testing sites in Central Florida by county
The virus has infected over 18.8 million people and has killed over 708,000 worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University & Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center. The U.S. is fast approaching an off-the-charts 5 million confirmed infections, easily the highest in the world. Nationwide, over 4.8 million people have been infected and over 158,000 are dead.
Many Americans have resisted wearing masks and social distancing, calling such precautions an overreaction or an infringement on their liberty. Public health experts say the problem has been compounded by confusing and inconsistent guidance from politicians and a patchwork quilt of approaches to containing the scourge by county, state and federal governments.
“We’re at a point where there’s enough spread of COVID-19 that people throughout the U.S. are at an increased likelihood of encountering the virus and getting exposed,” University of Florida epidemiologist Dr. Cindy Prins said.
The U.S. has the most fatalities by far, followed by Brazil with over 97,000, Mexico with over 49,000, the United Kingdom with over 46,000, India with over 40,000, Italy with over 35,000, and France with over 30,000.
Within the U.S., New York has the most deaths with over 32,000, followed by New Jersey with over 15,000.
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Local coronavirus victims: Their lives remembered
Deborah Denise Henson spent much of her adult life in pain — the result of a freakish accident that left her with plates and screws in her back. But you wouldn’t have known it from her smile. She survived a host of medical problems before succumbing to COVID-19.
Pong Hui Chartier, known as “Connie” to customers at the dry cleaning business she operated in Ocoee, liked to do things her way. “She’s never been someone that rested. She was always go, go, go. If anyone was going to live to be 100, it would be my mother,” her daughter said. At 79, Pong Hui took only one medication — for her thyroid. But in early March, she was diagnosed with pneumonia. Weeks later, she died as a victim of coronavirus.
Pneumonia caused by COVID-19 killed both Pete and Eleanor Baker, retired snowbirds who were married nearly 62 years and spent winters in an RV in Central Florida.
See more Central Florida coronavirus obituaries here.
Symptoms? Do this
Are you feeling stressed or depressed from the COVID19 outbreak? There are resources available for you. You can contact the Disaster Distress Helpline at 1-800-985-5990 or visit https://www.samhsa.gov/disaster-preparedness
How to protect yourself
Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
Stay home when you are sick and avoid contact with people in poor health.
Don’t touch your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.
Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then dispose of the tissue.
Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom, before eating, and after blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing.
Clean and disinfect touched objects and surfaces using a regular household cleaning spray or wipe.
Follow these recommendations for using a face mask: The CDC now recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social-distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies), especially in areas of significant community-based transmission. Follow these guidelines for using a cloth mask.
Questions? Here are numbers to call
The Florida Department of Health has set up a call center to answer questions about coronavirus. There’s a number for Orange County, too.
The Florida Department of Health’s number is 1-866-779-6121 and is available Tuesday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Residents may also email questions to COVID-19@flhealth.gov.
In Orange County, the number to call is 407-723-5004; it’s available Tuesday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For mental-health help, here is a list of resources.
For accurate, up-to-date information, visit
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov
The Florida Department of Health: floridahealth.gov/diseases-and-conditions/COVID-19. For questions, call the COVID-19 call center at 866-779-6121 or email COVID-19@flhealth.gov.
A live map of COVID-19 cases around the globe: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html
You want to be extra-prepared? Here’s how to stock up before a pandemic: ready.gov/pandemic
For the latest coronavirus updates, visit OrlandoSentinel.com/coronavirus and follow @orlandosentinel on Twitter.
See complete coverage at OrlandoSentinel.com/coronavirus.
This article originally appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
