Jacksonville, neighboring counties, sees the largest one-day increase in COVID-19 cases

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The counties of Duval, Clay, Nassau and St. Johns saw record increases in COVID-19 cases in the Florida Department of Health report Tuesday.

The state added 15,431 new coronavirus cases and 100 COVID-related deaths on Tuesday. While this was not a record for the state, Florida has averaged over 14,000 new cases each in the past seven days, the highest week of increases since the pandemic began in March.

On Tuesday there were an additional 1,331 cases in Duval County, 307 in St. Louis County. Johns, 204 in Clay County and 123 cases in Nassau County in the latest FDOH report, the highest one-day increments in those counties.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the state has recorded 1,392,123 cases and 22,515 virus-related deaths.

The statewide test-based positivity rate on Monday was 12.74%, the health department said Tuesday.

As of 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, 7,342 people were hospitalized in Florida with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, according to the state health care administration agency.

According to the latest vaccination data from the state, 20,195 first doses were administered on Monday, bringing the total in the state to 289,773. The majority of vaccinated Floridians are health care workers and first aid workers, although there are more and more people over the age of 65 or older, which the governor has established as key demographics for vaccinations.

More than 82% of those who have died from the disease in Florida have been over 65 years old.

Florida has one of the oldest populations in the country, with 4.4 million of the population of 21 million aged 65 or over in the state.

The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, cough, respiratory problems, sore throat, muscle aches, and loss of taste or smell. Most people have only mild symptoms. But some people, usually those with other medical complications, have more severe symptoms, including pneumonia.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.