ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida’s resident death toll from coronavirus rose to 21,409 with the addition of 101 more reported fatalities on Tuesday while also adding 12,075 more positive COVID-19 cases to bring the total to 1,292,252.
With a population of about 21.5 million, about one in 17 people in the state have now been infected. That number is closer to one in 17 nationally and one in 96 worldwide.
With 309 non-Florida resident deaths, including four new reported Tuesday, the state’s combined total stands at 21,718.
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 1,013 of its residents die from the virus. Total deaths in Florida attributed to COVID-19 amount to .10% of the state population, and one in 60 who were infected have died, a 1.67% death rate.
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 last week.
Across the state, 6,268 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of about 2 p.m. Tuesday, including 335 in Orange County, 137 in Osceola, 143 in Lake and 92 in Seminole. The state’s online tool updates several times throughout the day.
To date, 62,999 people have been hospitalized in Florida, according to the state’s report, which includes 492 newly reported hospitalizations since Monday’s update.
Over 118,948 people were currently hospitalized with COVID-19 across the United States as of Friday, according to the COVID-19 Tracking Project, which updates its cumulative data once a day.
Statewide through Monday, 146,160 people have received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine.
Florida is currently in the first phase of vaccination, starting with high-risk hospital workers and nursing home residents and staff. The state’s priority has first responders and residents and employees of long-term care facilities as the No. 1 and No. 2 priority, followed by those 65 and older.
Orange County residents age 65 and older were able to start signing up to receive the coronavirus vaccine Tuesday at the Orange County Convention Center.
Lake County will begin vaccinating seniors and health care workers in high risk environments against COVID-19 starting Wednesday, the Florida Department of Health announced Tuesday morning.
Meanwhile, Osceola County announced COVID-19 vaccine registration slots are open for health workers and residents who are 65 years and older. In Seminole County, the second round of vaccine appointments for people age 65 years and older quickly filled up on Monday within hours of sign-up openings.
The positivity rate among those newly tested has climbed above 8% and approached 10% several times in recent weeks. To date, 8.6 million people have been tested in Florida.
So far this month, about 49,000 people are being tested every day on average. In November, that number was about 38,600 people per day.
Statewide, the latest positivity rate reported Tuesday for Monday test results by the Florida Department of Health was 22.75%, 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 26.29%.
Both rates are extraordinarily high, but the DOH said Tuesday that the percentages are skewed as a result of testing site and lab closures over the holidays.
“These reduced hours and closures have resulted in less people tested and delays in result processing and reporting which have impacted Florida’s daily testing number by nearly half,” the Tuesday news release reads.
The agency warned that “data may continue to be impacted” through Jan. 4.
Last week, the state did not post a Christmas Day update, resulting in a high case report on Dec. 26 with two days’ worth of new cases, deaths and hospitalizations, among other pandemic data.
Central Florida added 2,006 cases on Tuesday for a total of 214,976: That includes 582 more in Orange for 74,273; 311 more in Polk for 36,253; 172 in Osceola for 24,684; 350 in Volusia for 21,715; 167 in Brevard for 20,522; 197 in Seminole for 17,642; 157 in Lake for 14,998; and 70 in Sumter for 4,889.
There were 20 new deaths across all eight Central Florida counties bringing the region’s toll to 3,470.
Central Florida accounts for over 16.6% of the cases statewide and over 16.2% of the deaths.
South Florida, home to 29% of Florida’s population, accounts for 39.4% of cases with 509,160. That includes 4,452 new cases reported Tuesday among Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.
South Florida’s reported deaths rose by 18 for a total of 7,867, about 36.7% of the state’s total.
The virus has infected over 81 million people and has killed over 1.7 million worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University & Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center. Nationwide, more than 19 million people have been infected and more than 336,000 are dead.
Over 121,235 people were currently hospitalized with COVID-19 across the United States as of Sunday, according to the COVID-19 Tracking Project, which updates its cumulative data once a day.
Florida ranks third in the nation in known virus infections. California leads with over 2.1 million, followed by Texas with over 1.7 million, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Within the U.S., New York has the most deaths with more than 37,000, followed by Texas with more than 27,000 and California with more than 24,000. Florida is 4th overall, but ranks 20th per capita, according to statista.com.
Nationally, one in 978 people has died from the virus. Worldwide, about one in 4,384 of the planet’s 7.8 billion population has died.
