JACKSONVILLE, Fla — Duval County reported 40 more COVID-19 deaths, a single-day record for the county, among 42 more lives lost to the novel coronavirus in Northeast Florida in Tuesday's report from the Florida Department of Health.
Florida's COVID-19 death toll increased to the verge of the 25,000 mark, adding 163 fatalities in Tuesday's report, while the cumulative Duval toll jumped from 816 to 856 in state numbers.
Deaths have also climbed around the nation over the winter: Earlier on Tuesday, Johns Hopkins University calculated that the cumulative death toll across the United States had surpassed 400,000.
Putnam County also reported two additional deaths as the overall Northeast Florida toll surged to 1,422 in the deadliest single-day increase thus far. Because of delays in tabulating deaths, however, fatalities that are newly included in Florida Department of Health reports actually occurred multiple days or weeks earlier.
The 40 deaths were by far the most added for any Florida county in the daily report, followed by the 22 in Palm Beach County. In addition, Hillsborough County's death toll decreased by five, among several inconsistencies in state data since the start of the pandemic in Florida.
The state reported that of the 40 additional Duval County deaths, 13 were connected to long-term care facilities.
The statewide death toll rose to 24,820 since the start of the pandemic. On current pace, Florida would likely surpass 25,000 confirmed deaths by Wednesday or Thursday.
Overall cases across Florida have now reached 1,589,097, the health department calculated, with 9,816 cases added in Tuesday's report — the second consecutive day in which the department has listed fewer than 10,000 new cases. Duval County reported 553 new positive tests, with 106 in Clay County, 90 in St. Johns County, 49 in Nassau County, 17 in Baker County and 16 in Putnam County.
The Florida Department of Health's statewide positivity rate decreased to 11.83 percent in laboratory results received on Monday.
After two days of modest increases, statistics from the Agency for Health Care Administration Tuesday afternoon showed that current COVID-19 hospitalizations across Florida are again decreasing. As of 3 p.m. Tuesday, the agency listed 7,363 patients with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19 in hospitals across the state, or 85 fewer than Monday afternoon.
Duval County hospitalizations, which had briefly surpassed 500 last week, continued their downward trend. The AHCA showed 454 hospitalized patients, a decrease of 21 from Monday. Baker County reported 53, unchanged; Clay County 96, down four; Nassau County 17, up six; Putnam County 16, up two; and St. Johns County 43, down nine.
STATEWIDE
Cases: 1,589,097
Current hospitalizations:
Total hospitalizations: 68,478
Resident deaths: 24,436
AREA CASES
Duval: 75,731
Baker: 2,853
Clay: 14,190
Nassau: 6,341
Putnam: 5,058
St. Johns: 16,763
AREA DEATHS
Duval: 856
Baker: 41
Clay: 221
Nassau: 73
Putnam: 91
St. Johns: 140