Florida Reports Yet Another Record High For Weekly COVID-19 Deaths

Florida's death toll from COVID-19 again climbed to new heights, with a total of 2,448 lives lost for the week, according to the state Department of Health’s report issued Friday.

Even as the state recorded its highest weekly death toll yet, new cases continued to decline.

The state said an additional 100,012 people tested positive for the coronavirus for the week ending Thursday, almost 29,000 fewer than last week.

The average number of new cases per day has declined in the past two weeks but is still more than 14,000, according to federal data.

The current surge fueled by the delta variant appears to have reached its peak two weeks ago, when weekly cases totaled 151,749.

The majority of new cases were among children under 12 for the third week in a row.

There were 17,165 cases in children under 12, down from 23,557 last week. The next highest number was 15,912 cases in the age group of 30-39.

Vaccinations have not yet been approved for children 11 and younger.

Though weekly numbers of cases were down across the state, Friday’s single-day count release by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was very close to last Friday’s: 17,854 new cases compared to 17,506 last Friday.

A total of 12,651 people were in hospitals across Florida due to COVID-19 complications — down almost 400 since Thursday.

Meantime, August's 7,622 COVID-related deaths made it Florida's deadliest month of the pandemic.

To put it in perspective, 5,468 people died with COVID-19 in Florida in January, the worst month in the third wave. And 5,239 died in July 2020 at the peak of the second wave.

In March 2020, an early projection from a modeler used by the White House estimated the pandemic’s death toll could reach 7,000 in Florida. As of Thursday, more than 48,000 are dead.

Each week, the Department of Health provides updates on the number of coronavirus cases, changes in positivity rate, vaccinations, and other statewide and county-by-county data.

The following is a summary from Sept. 3-Sept. 9, 2021.

Cases: 3,409,165 positive cases, an increase of 100,012 from the previous week.

Vaccinations: 13,281,666 Florida residents have been vaccinated, a weekly increase of 128,972. In all, 69% of Florida’s population over the age of 12 has received at least one dose of vaccine.

Positivity Rate: The positivity rate for new cases was 13.5%, down from 15.2% the previous week.

Deaths: A total of 48,772 Florida residents have died from a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, an increase of 2,448 from the previous week.

(NOTE: Cases and deaths in the report may have happened days or weeks earlier, according to state officials. The state is also now only counting deaths involving Florida residents.)

ABOUT THE DATA: As of June 4, 2021, the Florida Department of Health no longer offers daily updates on coronavirus data, and instead issues a county-by-county and statewide weekly breakdown on about COVID-19 cases, deaths, and other information. Cases and deaths in the report may have happened days or weeks earlier, according to state officials. The state is also now only counting deaths involving Florida residents.

WMFE's Joe Byrnes contributed to this report.