Florida continues to see COVID cases fall and deaths rise

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Florida reported just over 100,000 new cases of COVID-19 last week, 33% less than last month’s rise. The state has now diagnosed 3.4 million of its residents (about 14% of Floridians) with coronavirus since early last year.

As with previous rises, when the number of new cases begins to decline, deaths attributed to the virus continued to rise for several weeks. The death toll in the Department of Health report on Friday rose 2,448 from the previous Friday, the largest seven-day increase in Florida since the pandemic began.

The 100,012 new cases from September 3 to 9 are the lowest weekly total in the state since mid-July. Florida had three consecutive weeks with more than 150,000 new cases in August.

Duval County added 3,063 cases in seven days, the smallest increase since the week ended July 8. And over the past week, Duval had the lowest rate of new cases per 100,000 people in the state.

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The new case positivity rate of 13.5% is also the lowest since mid-July, according to the new Florida Department of Health data report released Friday evening.

The age group with the most new cases is still the population under 12, which is currently not eligible for vaccination. FDOH says 17,165 children under the age of 12 became infected with COVID-19 last week.

State data show that 69% of eligible Floridians (over the age of 12) have received at least one vaccine, a number of public health officials trying to increase. FDOH says 349,845 doses were administered last week, which is the number of fewer shots administered in five weeks.