JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Florida’s health department reported an additional 7,364 COVID-19 cases on Sunday and 59 more deaths as a result of the novel coronavirus. That brings the state’s totals since the beginning of the pandemic to 992,661 total confirmed cases and 18,736 deaths.
Sunday’s increase was slightly below the daily average for the last week.
Recommended Videos
Hospitalizations related to COVID-19 continued to rise, with 4,059 with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19 by 4 p.m. Sunday. That number has steadily risen since October after plateauing at around 2,000 hospitalizations daily for weeks following the summer surge of the virus. A total of 54,706 people have been hospitalized with the virus since March.
The statewide rate of positive tests rose to 7.85% in Sunday’s report, about one-half point above the average for the last seven days. The positivity rate in most Northeast Florida counties went up -- most higher than the state average.
Florida and Duval County daily COVID-19 case increase
There were eight additional deaths in Duval County in Sunday’s report, three more in Alachua County and one additional death in St. Johns County.
Infectious disease experts are concerned that coronavirus that spread during gatherings for the holidays will lead to a higher number of cases in the next week or two, which could be followed by more people getting sick and dying in late December.
Unlike in the spring and summer and what many other states are doing this fall, Florida officials have not adopted additional restrictions to prevent the virus from spreading.