Florida closes 2020 with the highest one-day rise in COVID-19 cases

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

Florida reported an additional 17,192 COVID-19 cases – surpassing the previous one-day high of 15,300 cases on July 12 in the middle of the summer peak.

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

Of those, 323,996 were reported in December alone – accounting for nearly a quarter (24.5%) of the state’s cases in the past 10 months.

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

St. Johns, Nassau and Flagler counties set one-day records for newly confirmed cases. St. Johns County reported a further 244 cases, Nassau County added 110 cases, and Flagler County reported 87 new cases.

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

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

After an unusual spike to a 22.81% positivity rate on Monday that the state attributed to post-holiday closures testing, the state dropped to a positivity rate of 8.72% in Tuesday’s data and a positivity rate of 11. 57% on Wednesdays.

According to the state’s vaccination dashboard, 23,269 first doses were administered on Wednesday, bringing the total in the state to 211,165. Vaccines were given Tuesday to the first seniors who weren’t in long-term care facilities, and some counties in northeast Florida have begun scheduling appointments to administer vaccines to people 65 and older in their communities.

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

Monday, the first vaccines will be delivered to the general public in Northeast Florida.