JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The state Department of Health added 75,906 new COVID-19 cases in its weekly reporting, bringing the state’s total to nearly 3.5 million since the pandemic began. That number is half of the weekly total for three weeks during the August surge and slightly below the seven-day increases seen during the post-Christmas surge.
The downward trend is even steeper in Duval County, where the weekly increase was only a third of what Jacksonville was experiencing at the beginning of last month and half of the peaks seen last winter.
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While hospitalizations due to coronavirus have also been falling consistently for three weeks, deaths from the recent surge continue to rise. The DOH said 51,240 Floridians have died of COVID-19 since March 1, 2020 -- up 2,468 in the last seven days. That’s only slightly higher than last week’s number.
August was the deadliest month of the pandemic in Florida with more than 8,600 fatalities connected to the novel coronavirus. In county-level data the state reported to the Centers for Disease Control this week, 829 people in Duval County had died since June 6 -- the last time DOH had issued such data in its public reports.
The new-case positivity rate also dropped to 11.2% this week, the lowest since early July.
The state also this week reached 70% vaccination of the eligible population (ages 12+), according to Thursday’s report.