ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida's resident death toll from coronavirus rose to 16,834 with the addition of 45 more reported fatalities while the state added 4,651 more positive cases of COVID-19 for a total to date of 812,063.
The Monday report from the Florida Department of Health marked the second day with more than 4,000 new reported infections. Friday's reported 5,592 infections was the highest number since Sept. 1.
With a population of about 21.5 million, about one in 26 people in the state has now been infected. The infection figures are at one in 36 nationally and one in 167 worldwide.
With 209 non-Florida resident deaths, the state's combined total stands at 17,043. Each report includes deaths from several previous days, as it can take two weeks or more for fatalities to be logged.
Florida has seen about one in 1,276 of its residents die from the virus, while nationally it's closer to one in 1,421 people, and worldwide it's at about one in 6,490 of the planet's 7.8 billion population.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government's top infectious diseases expert, is cautioning that the U.S. will have to deal with "a whole lot of hurt" in the weeks ahead due to surging coronavirus cases.
Fauci said the U.S. "could not possibly be positioned more poorly" to stem rising cases as more people gather indoors during the colder fall and winter months. He says the U.S. will need to make an "abrupt change" in public health precautions.
Florida ranks third in the nation for total positive COVID-19 cases. California leads with more than 957,000, closely followed by Texas with more than 939,000.
Positive cases appear to be trending higher in weekly figures. As of Sunday, the seven-day rolling average increased, with more than 4,000 new cases posted per day. That average was nearly 3,000 on Oct 21.
From Sunday to Sunday, Florida saw 28,776 new cases and 360 newly reported deaths in state health department data. In comparison, the week ending Oct. 25 saw 23,616 new cases and 462 newly reported deaths.
Florida saw 12 straight weeks of over 20,000 new cases from mid-June through early September, with as many as 80,000 posted in the week ending July 19.
Meanwhile, weekly reported deaths have steadied. The state endured more than 1,000 weekly reported deaths for three consecutive weeks in early August, hitting a peak of 1,266 in the week ending Aug. 16. From Sunday-Sunday, the state reported 360 fatalities, the lowest since the week ending July 5.
The health department is no longer reporting a cumulative figure for total tests. The last available figure, posted Thursday, showed nearly 6.1 million people had been tested in Florida to date.
Testing has been declining statewide since the summer when there were about 54,400 daily average tests in July and about 32,000 in August. September's daily average fell to 22,800, and in October it was about 28,200.
The latest positivity rate reported by the Florida Department of Health was 6.47%, 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 8.38%.
COVID-19 hospitalizations statewide are down from mid-July highs of over 8,000, but after sitting around 2,000 in September and October, they have begun to climb back.
Across the state, 2,443 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of about 10:30 a.m. EST Tuesday. The state's online tool updates several times throughout the day.
To date, 49,485 people have been hospitalized in Florida, the state's COVID-19 dashboard shows.
From Sunday to Sunday, Florida saw 1,197 newly reported hospitalizations in health department data. The previous week had 1,154 newly reported hospitalizations, but these figures may reflect cases that are days or up to several weeks old.
The virus has infected over 46 million people and has killed over 1.2 million worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University & Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center. Nationwide, more than 9.2 million people have been infected and over 231,000 are dead.
Experts are warning of a grim fall and winter, as "pandemic fatigue" — or weariness with wearing masks and staying away from others — takes hold and cold weather forces people indoors, where the virus can spread more easily.
Since April, America has led the world by far in sheer numbers of confirmed infections and deaths. The U.S. has less than 5% of the globe's population but more than 20% of the reported deaths.
Brazil has the second-most fatalities with over 160,000, India with over 122,000, Mexico with over 91,000, the United Kingdom with over 46,000, Italy with over 38,000, France with more than 37,000, Spain and Iran with more than 36,000 and Peru with over 35,000.
Within the U.S., New York has the most deaths with over 33,000, followed by Texas with over 18,000 and California with over 17,000. Florida is fourth overall, but ranks ninth per capita.
