Florida Breaks 5th Coronavirus Death Record In 8 Days

TALLAHASSEE, FL — As improbable as it may seem, Florida set yet another single-day record Friday for the most deaths reported in any 24-hour period since the pandemic began. It was the fourth such record this week and the fifth over the previous eight days.

Health officials reported 257 new deaths on Friday — breaking Thursday's record of 253 deaths, Wednesday's record of 216 deaths, Tuesday's record of 186 deaths and the July 23 record of 173 deaths last week.

While the reported deaths in some cases have been spread over an extended period, new deaths have been reported daily by the state and its counties.

The death toll in Florida from the coronavirus reached 6,586 on Friday, up from 6,333 a day earlier. State health officials reported another 123 non-Florida residents who died in the state from the coronavirus.

A number of coronavirus test sites shut down by the end of the day Thursday ahead of Hurricane Isaias, which may temporarily skew the number of new cases added to the state's case total throughout the weekend.

Health officials reported 470,386 total cases of the virus Friday, up from 461,379 cases a day earlier. That represents an increase of 9,007 new cases over the previous one-day period.

Health officials reported 26,533 hospitalizations in the state up from 26,017 hospitalizations over the previous 24 hours. That represents an increase of 516 more hospitalizations than reported a day earlier and is among the highest one-day increases since the pandemic began.

Thirty-eight of Florida's 67 counties reported 270 new deaths Friday (state health officials reported 257). Friday's total compares with 253 new deaths Thursday, 216 new deaths reported Wednesday, 185 new deaths reported Tuesday (Florida health officials reported 186), 78 new deaths Monday (state health officials reported 77), 77 new deaths Sunday, 124 new deaths Saturday and 135 new deaths last Friday.

Miami-Dade County reported 96 new deaths. Palm Beach County reported nine new deaths. Neighboring Broward County reported 33 new deaths. Those three counties are considered the epicenter of Florida's outbreak.

Brevard County reported 19 new deaths. Pinellas County reported 14 new deaths. Seminole County reported 10 new deaths. Lee County reported nine new deaths. Osceola County reported seven new deaths. Manatee County reported six new deaths, as did Polk County,

Hillsborough County reported four new deaths, as did Indian River County, Marion County, Okaloosa County, Okeechobee County and Orange County.

Escambia County reported three new deaths, as did Hernando County, Jackson County, Sumter County and Volusia County.

Martin County reported two new deaths, as did Monroe County, Pasco County, St. Johns County and St. Lucie County.

Alachua County reported one new death, as did Charlotte County, Citrus County, Clay County, Collier County, Duval County, Gadsden County, Hendry County, Sarasota County, Wakulla County, Walton County and Washington County.

Florida reported a 12.95 percent positive test rate for the virus Friday as the number of tests reached 3,633,393.

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Miami-Dade, which includes Miami and Miami Beach, reported 118,462 cases of the virus. Nearby Broward County, which includes Fort Lauderdale, reported 55,411 cases. Palm Beach County, which includes Palm Beach, West Palm and Boca Raton, reported 33,274 cases.

Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa, reported 29,116 cases. Orange County, which includes Orlando, reported 29,011 cases.

In an effort to provide as much information to our readers as possible, Patch is publishing the following county-by-county breakdown of the coronavirus cases in Florida's 67 counties, along with the median age of patients, the number of hospital cases by county and the number of deaths.

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Patch updates this chart once each day based on data provided by the Florida Department of Health. The counties that reported new deaths on Friday are shown in bold.

Here is the most recent data: