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Florida closes 2020 with highest one-day increase in COVID-19 cases

State eclipses previous single-day high with 17,192 more coronavirus cases

File photo. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) (Joe Raedle, 2020 Getty Images)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Florida ended 2020 with a record-high one-day increase in newly confirmed coronavirus cases, according to data released Thursday by the state health department.

Florida reported 17,192 more COVID-19 cases -- eclipsing the previous one-day high of 15,300 cases set on July 12 in the midst of the summer spike.

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Since March 1, there have been 1,323,315 residents and people visiting the state diagnosed with COVID-19.

Of those, 323,996 were reported just in December -- accounting for nearly a quarter (24.5%) of the state’s cases over the last 10 months.

Duval County added 997 cases of coronavirus in Thursday’s data. Since the pandemic began, there have been 61,321 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Jacksonville.

St. Johns, Nassau and Flagler counties set one-day records for newly confirmed cases. St. Johns County reported an additional 244 cases, Nassau County added 110 cases and Flagler County reported 87 new cases.

There were 133 additional deaths in Florida reported Thursday, bringing the state’s total to 21,990. Four of those were in Northeast Florida: Two in Clay County and one each in St. Johns and Alachua counties.

There were 6,363 people hospitalized in the state Thursday afternoon with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19 -- including 418 in Duval, 98 in Clay and 179 in Alachua County, according to the state database.

After an unusual spike to a 22.81% positivity rate on Monday that the state attributed to testing closures from the holidays, the state settled back to an 8.72% positivity rate in Tuesday’s data and an 11.57% positivity rate on Wednesday.

According to the state’s vaccination dashboard: 23,269 first doses were administered Wednesday, bringing the total in the state to 211,165. Vaccines were given Tuesday to the first senior citizens not in long-term care facilities, and some Northeast Florida counties have begun scheduling appointments to administer vaccines to those 65 years and older in their communities.

RELATED: COVID-19 vaccine in Northeast Florida: What we know by county

The first vaccines for the general public in Northeast Florida will be administered Monday.