Florida Coronavirus Cases Top 600,000 Amid Slowing Of Spread

The frightening number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Florida, topping 600,000 on Sunday for the third highest in the country, masks gains the state is making in lowering the number of new daily cases, hospitalizations and the positivity rate.

Florida reported 27,155 new cases, 2,540 new hospitalizations, and 873 deaths Aug. 16-23. On Sunday, it revealed 2,974 new cases and 51 deaths among residents. Florida reported 4,300 new cases Saturday.

Sunday was the eighth straight day the Florida Department of Health (FDOH) reported fewer than 5,000 new cases in a day. FDOH confirms the downward trend, saying it hasn’t reported more than 10,000 infections in a single day since July 25. It's highest single-day case count was July 12 with 15,300.

Florida still has the third highest number of coronavirus cases in the nation after California (670,000) and Texas (604,000). California, Texas and Florida together account for 32% of total U.S. cases, which stood at 5.9 million as of Sunday.

On the other hand, the number of deaths in Florida remains high on a week-on-week basis. About half of Florida's total deaths amounting to 10,462 occurred in July alone. The week ending Aug. 16 saw 1,266 deaths, the highest number of fatalities in a single week, as well as 40,610 new cases and 3,423 hospitalizations.

FDOH reports an average of 156 fatalities per day this month, which makes COVID-19 the state’s No. 1 killer. It said cancer and heart disease each average about 125 deaths per day.

As of Saturday, Florida's positivity rate came in at under 10% for the fourth straight day, said FDOH. The posivitity rate of 8.6%, however, was significantly higher than Friday's figure of 7.1%.

Public health experts say the positivity rate should be under 10% for two weeks to confirm a decline in infections. Saturday was the 10th day the positivity rate stood below 10%.

More than 4.4 million people have been tested in Florida. Of this total, 26,806 tests reported were conducted Sunday compared to Saturday.

Hospitalizations have also trended downward over the past month. FDOH data shows 4,578 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of noon Sunday. FDOH reported 139 new hospitalizations Sunday, bringing the overall total to 36,468 since March.