Jacksonville, neighboring counties see largest one-day increase in COVID-19 cases

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Duval, Clay, Nassau and St. Johns saw a record increase in COVID-19 cases in Tuesday’s Florida Department of Health report.

The state added 15,431 new coronavirus cases and 100 COVID-related deaths on Tuesday. Although this was not a state record, Florida recorded an average of more than 14,000 new cases in each of the last seven days – the highest week of increases since the pandemic began in March.

There were another 1,331 cases in Duval County on Tuesday, 307 in St. Louis County. Johns, 204 in Clay County and 123 cases in Nassau County in the latest FDOH report – the largest one-day increases in those counties.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the state has registered 1,392,123 cases and 22,515 virus-related deaths.

The national positivity rate based on Monday’s test was 12.74%, the health department said on Tuesday.

As of 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, 7,342 people were hospitalized in Florida with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, according to the State Agency for Healthcare Administration.

According to the latest vaccination data from the state, 20,195 first doses were administered on Monday, bringing the total to 289,773 in the state. Most Floridians who have been vaccinated are health care workers and the first to respond, although an increasing number are seniors 65 and older, whom the governor has made a demographic key to vaccinations.

More than 82% of those who died from the disease in Florida were over 65 years old.

Florida has one of the nation’s oldest populations, with 4.4 million of the state’s population of 21 million aged 65 or older.

Common symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, muscle aches, and loss of taste or smell. Most people develop only mild symptoms. But some people, usually those with other medical complications, develop more severe symptoms, including pneumonia.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.