ORLANDO, Fla. — The Florida Department of Health reported 72 more resident deaths linked to COVID-19 on Saturday, along with 11,682 new positive cases.
To date, 1,193,165 people have been infected statewide and 20,473 Florida residents have died. With 291 non-resident fatalities, including two new deaths posted Saturday, the combined toll is 20,764.
The state reported among the highest daily cases ever this week, with 13,148 posted Thursday and 13,000 posted Friday. Only at the height of the pandemic did numbers exceed those highs, when the state reported 13,965 on July 16 and the record 15,300 on July 12, during the summer spike.
Over 17,000 cases were posted on Nov. 27, but that report combined two days’ worth of data after the health department did not issue a Thanksgiving Day update.
Reported deaths have hovered around the 100 daily mark this month as well, with 1,872 logged since Dec. 1.
With a population of about 21.5 million, about one in 18 people in the state have now been infected. That number is closer to one in 19 nationally and one in 103 worldwide.
Each report includes deaths from several previous days, as it can take weeks and sometimes several months for reports to appear.
Florida has seen about one in 1,049 of its residents die from the virus, while nationally it’s closer to one in 1,043 people, and worldwide, it’s at about one in 4,641 of the planet’s 7.8 billion population.
COVID-19 hospitalizations are climbing back up toward mid-July highs of over 8,000. They had fallen to around 2,000 by early October, but passed 5,000 again this past Tuesday.
Across the state, 5,090 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of about 2:15 p.m. Saturday. The state’s online tool updates several times throughout the day.
To date, 59,851 people have been hospitalized in Florida, according to the state’s report, which includes 249 newly reported hospitalizations since Thursday’s update.
Over 114,685 people were currently hospitalized with COVID-19 across the United States as of Friday, according to COVID-19 Tracking Project, which updates its cumulative data once a day.
The positivity rate among those newly tested has climbed above 8% and approached 10% several times in recent weeks. To date, more than 8.1 million people have been tested in Florida.
The Florida Department of Health did not immediately release the latest positivity rate on Saturday. The most recent figures are below. Statewide, the latest positivity rate reported Friday for Thursday’s test results by the Florida Department of Health was 8.75%, 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 10.62%.
The virus has infected nearly 76 million people and has killed more than 1.6 million worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University & Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center. Nationwide, more than 17 million people have been infected and more than 314,000 are dead.
Florida ranks third in the nation in known virus infections. California leads with over 1.8 million, followed by Texas with over 1.5 million, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Within the U.S., New York has the most deaths with over 36,000, followed by Texas with over 25,000 and California with over 22,000. Florida is fourth overall, but ranks 26th per capita, according to statista.com.
Brazil has the second-most fatalities with over 185,000, India with over 145,000, Mexico with over 117,000, Italy with over 68,000, the United Kingdom with over 67,000, France with over 60,000, Iran with more than 53,000, Russia with more than 49,000 and Spain with more than 48,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Total deaths attributed to COVID-19 amount to .10% of the state population, and one in 58 who are infected have died, a 1.72% death rate. The national death toll amounts to .10% of the population, with one in 56 infected dying, a 1.79% death rate.
Globally, the number of deaths is at .02% of the world’s population, with one in 45 infected dying, a 2.21% death rate. Death rates have actually gone down as more cases have been reported, and more people recover with improved treatments, even though the overall death toll continues to climb.
That rate would be even lower as the actual number of cases around the world is believed to be much higher than reported — perhaps 10 times higher in the U.S., according to the CDC — given testing limitations and the many mild cases that have gone unreported or unrecognized.
