Florida Surpasses 400,000 Coronavirus Cases

TALLAHASSEE, FL — The number of people infected with the coronavirus in Florida surpassed 400,000 Friday as health officials reported 12,444 new cases of the virus.

President Donald Trump announced Thursday he was canceling the on-site portion of the Republican National Convention in Jacksonville because of the weekslong spike of new cases in the state.

"I looked at my team, and I said the timing for this event is not right," the president said, noting the "flare-up" of cases in Florida.

Florida health officials reported 402,312 cases of the virus Friday, up from 389,868 over the previous 24 hours.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis attended a White House ceremony Friday in which the president signed four executive orders intended to lead to cheaper prescription drug prices. The governor met privately with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows but did not speak publicly on the coronavirus outbreak in Florida.

State health officials reported 135 new deaths in the state Friday, one day after Florida set a new record for its deadliest day on Thursday with 173 reported deaths.

While the reported deaths have been spread over an extended period, new deaths have been reported daily with a string of record-setting days.

The death toll in Florida from the coronavirus climbed to 5,653 from 5,518 a day earlier. State health officials reported another 115 non-Florida residents who died in the state from the coronavirus. A county-by-county breakdown of each of the deaths, and when they were counted by state health officials, can be found here.

"We've seen the positivity rate start to top off and also seen some decline," Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez told ABC News on Friday as he appeared on "GMA 3 What You Need To Know." He said his county still had about 2,200 people in the hospital with the coronavirus, including 500 people in ICU beds and 300 patients on ventilators.

He said county officials have issued more than 100 civil citations to people for not wearing masks in public over the previous week. In addition, local municipalities have also been issuing citations to stem the rising tide of new cases in Florida's hardest hit county.

Appearing on MSNBC, fired Florida Health Department data curator Rebekah Jones accused state health officials of manipulating coronavirus statistics to make things look better than they are in Florida.

"What I was asked to do was to actually go in and change raw data to make the percent positivity look lower," she charged. "They still do that by diluting the data, dumping negative retests in there, adding antigen tests but not telling anybody how many of those are antigen tests."

State health officials have denied any manipulation of data. While positive antigen tests are considered very accurate, such tests carry an increased chance of false negative results, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Thirty-one of Florida's 67 counties reported new deaths Friday. The daily total compares with 173 new deaths reported Thursday, 140 new deaths reported Wednesday (health officials reported 139), 134 new deaths reported Tuesday, 119 new deaths reported Monday (health officials reported 90 new deaths), 87 new deaths Sunday, 91 new deaths Saturday (health officials reported 90) and 128 new deaths last Friday.

Miami-Dade County reported 16 new deaths. Palm Beach County reported 17 new deaths. Neighboring Broward County reported 10 new deaths. Those three counties are considered the epicenter of Florida's outbreak.

Polk County reported 12 new deaths. Duval County, which includes Jacksonville, reported nine new deaths. Orange County reported eight new deaths. Highlands County reported six new deaths. Lee County reported five new deaths, as did Marion County.

Brevard County reported four new deaths as did Seminole County and Volusia County. Collier County reported three new deaths, as did Columbia County, Escambia County, Pinellas County, Sarasota County and Sumter County. Citrus County reported two new deaths, as did Clay County, Hillsborough County and Osceola County.

Bradford County reported one new death, as did Glades County, Hernando County, Lake County, Manatee County, Putnam County, St. Johns County, St. Lucie County and Taylor County.

Florida reported a 12.3 percent positive test rate for the virus Friday as the number of tests reached 3,281,087.

Don’t miss updates about precautions in Florida as they are announced. Sign up for Patch news alerts and newsletters.

Health officials reported 23,225 hospitalizations, up from 22,644 over the previous 24 hours. That represents an increase of 581 more hospitalizations than reported a day earlier and is among the highest one-day increases since the pandemic began

Miami-Dade, which includes Miami and Miami Beach, reported 98,430 cases of the virus Friday. Nearby Broward County, which includes Fort Lauderdale, reported 46,576 cases. Palm Beach County, which includes Palm Beach and West Palm, reported 29,004 cases.

Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa, reported 26,037 cases. Orange County, which includes Orlando, reported 25,952 cases.

In an effort to provide as much information to our readers as possible, Patch is publishing the following county-by-county breakdown of the coronavirus cases in Florida's 67 counties, along with the median age of patients, the number of hospital cases by county and the number of deaths.

Related:

• Hillsborough School To Reopen Aug. 24 Despite Growing Concerns
• Sarasota High School Teacher Loses Battle With Coronavirus
• Miami-Dade Residents Face Deadline To Apply For Rent Assistance
• DeSantis Lays Out Case For Sending Kids Back To School
• Miami Firefighter Needs Plasma Donation In Coronavirus Battle
• Florida Teachers Challenge School Reopening In Lawsuit
• Teacher's Final Lesson Is To Hold Family Close, Appreciate Life
• Coalition Launches Drive Childcare Center Coronavirus Supplies
• Florida Governor Confronted By Hecklers In Orlando
• Miami Beach Cancels Summer Camps After Child Tests Positive
• Hillsborough's Positive Rate For Coronavirus Reaches 15 Percent
• Miami-Dade Offers Hundreds Of Free Hotel Rooms For Coronavirus
• Florida Workers Hold Tele-Town Hall On Unemployment Crisis
• Miami-Dade Mayor Asks Residents To Avoid Friends, Family

Patch updates this chart once each day based on data provided by the Florida Department of Health. The counties that reported new deaths on Friday are shown in bold.

Here is the most recent data: