Florida Reports Deadliest One-Day Rise In Deaths

TALLAHASSEE, FL — Florida's death toll from the coronavirus rose to 4,409 Tuesday, marking the deadliest one-day increase since the pandemic began with 132 new deaths reported over the previous 24-hour period. State officials reported another 104 deaths in Florida involving non-Florida residents.

The total number of coronavirus cases in the state climbed to 291,629 on Tuesday, an increase of 9,194 over Monday's total of 282,435 cases.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis promised a "guns blazing" response to the ongoing surge of coronavirus cases and the governor traveled back to Miami Tuesday for a roundtable with local mayors.

Twenty-four Florida counties reported new deaths Tuesday. That compares with 35 new deaths on Monday, 45 new deaths Sunday, 94 new deaths Saturday (health officials reported 95), 117 new deaths Friday (health officials reported 93), 120 new deaths Thursday, 49 new deaths reported Wednesday and 63 new deaths last Tuesday.

Miami-Dade County reported 32 new deaths. Palm Beach County reported 13 new deaths.

Pinellas County reported 26 new deaths. Lee County reported 15 new deaths. Polk County reported 10 new deaths. Osceola County reported six new deaths.

Brevard County reported five new deaths as did Pasco County. Clay County reported three new deaths as did Duval County, which includes Jacksonville.

Collier County reported two new deaths as did Hernando County, Leon County and Orange County.

Citrus County reported one new death as did Hendry County, Hillsborough County, Indian River County, Nassau County and Seminole County.

A prominent infectious disease specialist from the University of Miami described Miami as the world's new epicenter on Monday while another described Florida's ongoing spike in cases as "extremely grave."

Florida set another staggering new record for coronavirus cases on Sunday with a one-day increase of 15,300 cases. But that record was only one day of a long string of 10,000-plus days in Florida.

A disproportionate number of the new cases have been in Miami-Dade, which includes the cities of Miami and Miami Beach. Restaurants in Miami-Dade have been ordered to close indoor dining rooms while gym patrons have been ordered to wear masks when exercising indoors. The entire county remains under a curfew.

Florida had a 10.8 percent positive test rate for the virus Tuesday as the number of tests administered in the state reached 2,688,366.

The percentage of positive cases has been increasing for weeks, and cases have been trending younger with many of the new people testing positive between the ages of 25 to 34.

President and CEO Carlos A. Migoya of Jackson Health said his hospital system is now seeing a mix of of patient ages.

"We saw for a while, the number of inpatients becoming younger," he said. "Now the same number of younger patients are being admitted because the increase has happened. In that increase, we’ve seen older people coming back in. That means the younger people have been contaminating the older people."

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Health officials reported 18,881 hospitalizations from 18,498 hospitalizations over the previous 24-hour period. That represents an increase of 383 more hospitalizations over the previous day, which is among the highest one-day increases.

Miami-Dade reported 69,803 cases of the virus Tuesday. Nearby Broward County, which includes Fort Lauderdale, reported 32,814 cases. Palm Beach County, which includes Palm Beach and West Palm, reported 22,279 cases.

Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa, reported 20,508 cases. Orange County, which includes Orlando, reported 19,377 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:

• Governor Promises 'Guns Blazing' Response To Covonavirus Surge
• Brandon Coronavirus Testing Site Increases Appointments
• Medical Expert Calls Miami New World Epicenter; 12,624 More Cases
• Florida Bars Won't Reopen, But Schools Will; Cases Top 250,000
• More Residents Refusing To Participate In Contact Tracing
• Pinellas Releases Draft Back-To-School Plan, Mandates Masks
• FL Governor Says He Would Not Hesitate To Send His Kids To School
• Miami-Dade Nearly Doubles Coronavirus Contact Tracers Amid Spike
• Miami ABC Affiliate WPLG-TV Reports 9 Coronavirus Cases
• Toxic Bleach Sold As 'Miracle' Coronavirus Cure: Feds
• Most Florida Children Expected To Attend Traditional Schools
• Masks Are Now Required In Lakeland Public Places: Commission
• Patch Survey: Too Soon To Send Kids Back To School
• Coronavirus Confrontation On South Beach Elevator

• Miami-Dade Mayor Reimposes Curfew Amid Coronavirus
• Jackson Health CEO Issues Dire Warning Over Coronavirus Spike

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

Here is the most recent data: