Florida closes 2020 with the largest one-day increase in COVID-19 cases

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Florida ended 2020 with a record one-day increase in newly confirmed coronavirus cases, according to data released Thursday by the state health department.

Florida reported another 17,192 cases of COVID-19 – eclipsing the previous high of 15,300 cases set for July 12, in the middle of summer.

As of March 1, there were 1,323,315 residents and people visiting the state diagnosed with COVID-19.

Of these, 323,996 were reported in December itself – accounting for almost a quarter (24.5%) of state cases in the last 10 months.

Duval County added 997 coronavirus cases to Thursday’s data. Since the pandemic began, there have been 61,321 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Jacksonville.

Counties of St. Johns, Nassau and Flagler set day records for the newly confirmed cases. St. County Johns reported another 244 cases, Nassau County added 110 cases and Flagler County reported 87 new cases.

There were an additional 133 deaths in Florida reported Thursday, bringing the state’s total to 21,990. Four of them were in northeast Florida: two in Clay County and one in St. Louis County. Johns and Alachua.

In the state on Thursday afternoon, 6,363 people were hospitalized, with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19 – including 418 in Duval, 98 in Clay and 179 in Alachua County, according to the state database.

After an unusual increase in a positivity rate of 22.81% on Monday, which the state attributed to the test of holiday closures, the state returned to a positivity rate of 8.72% on Tuesday and at a rate of positivity of 11.57% on Wednesday.

According to the state vaccination scoreboard: the first 23,269 doses were administered on Wednesday, bringing the total to 211,165 in the state. The vaccines were given on Tuesday to the first elderly citizens who were not in long-term care facilities, and some counties in northeast Florida began scheduling vaccine schedules for people 65 and older in their communities.

RELATED: COVID-19 Vaccine in Northeast Florida: What We Know by County

The first vaccines for the general public in Northeast Florida will be administered on Monday.