Florida has surpassed 80,000 deaths from COVID-19.
In the U.S. more than 1 million have died. And around the world, the death toll so far is 6.5 million, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The Florida Department of Health reported Friday that at least 80,386 Floridians have died from COVID-19, with nearly 6,000 of those deaths added since early June.
That total was up from 79,573 in a report released Aug. 26 and up from 78,559 in a report released Aug. 12. Because of lags in reporting, it is unclear when the additional deaths occurred
The state report showed a continued slowing in reported COVID cases. Florida had 28,791 newly reported cases in the latest report, after totaling 38,956 the previous week. As a comparison, it had 78,215 new cases during the week that started July 8 and 76,012 new cases during the week that started July 15, according to the report.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports the COVID-19 Community Level is high in Miami-Dade County, five counties in the greater Tampa Bay area (Hillsborough, Pinellas, Polk, Hernando and Pasco), Martin County, and a block of 12 counties in North Florida.
At that level, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends wearing a high-quality mask indoors in public.
Fewer and fewer Floridians have gotten COVID vaccine doses since mid-July. But new, updated booster shots for people 12 and older are now available at many pharmacies. You can find them online at vaccines.gov.
Information from News Service of Florida was used in this report.
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