JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Florida on Friday saw its third-highest daily increase of coronavirus cases, according to numbers released by the state Department of Health.
A total of 9,488 additional COVID-19 cases were reported Friday morning in Florida, bringing the statewide total to 178,594. Florida on Thursday added a record 10,109 cases, well above the previous single-day record of 9,585 cases set on Saturday.
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St. Johns and Putnam counties each set daily records for new cases on Friday. St. Johns County added 100 additional cases, for a total of 1,188 cases. Putnam County recorded 56 additional cases, for a total of 489 cases. The previous single-day records for both counties -- 99 cases in St. Johns County and 52 cases in Putnam County -- were recorded Thursday.
Friday was the second day in a row that more than 700 new cases were reported in Duval County. It was also the third time that the county saw a 700-plus increase in one day.
Friday’s Florida Department of Health report shows Duval County added 714 additional cases, bringing the county’s total to 7,961. Duval County added a record 767 cases on Thursday and 740 cases on Sunday.
The total number of Jacksonville residents diagnosed with COVID-19 has been slowly building since early March and has risen faster than the state average. According to Friday’s report, the daily rate of positive tests on Thursday was a record 16.3% in Duval County and was 14.8% statewide.
The state also reported more than 60 additional coronavirus-related deaths on Friday for the third time in a week. As of Friday, there had been 3,785 deaths reported in the state, 67 of which were reported since Thursday. None of the 67 deaths were in Northeast Florida.
New hospitalizations and deaths are also ticking upward in Florida, although not as dramatically as the new cases. Hospitalizations statewide on Friday increased to a total of 15,491 since the beginning of March.
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. But for others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, the highly contagious virus can cause severe symptoms and be fatal.