Northeast Florida ticks up in coronavirus cases by 31

While the First Coast had shown on-and-off signs of flattening coronavirus case figures for the past two weeks, Wednesday was particularly slow, according to data released by the Florida Department of Health.

There are 1,453 cases of COVID-19 in five Northeast Florida counties now. That’s up by 31 over Tuesday’s numbers and there were no new fatalities reported in any county on the First Coast Wednesday.

Duval County accounted for most of the increase in cases of the illness. Jacksonville posted 936 instances in the DOH figures released Wednesday. That’s up by 27 from Tuesday.

The Jacksonville case increase comes as the city announced a new testing site. The “walk-up” testing site will be available at Kooker Park 1400 East 20th St. from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. beginning Friday.

The new testing site comes on top of existing coronavirus testing sites at Lot J outside TIAA Bank Field and the Prime Osborn Convention Center in Jacksonville.

Clay County increased by three cases Wednesday arriving at 259 total cases, and no new fatalities reported.

St. Johns County bumped up by one case going from 194 Tuesday to 195 Wednesday.

Baker and Nassau counties showed no significant changes in data.

The First Coast is holding steady at 35 total fatalities due to the pandemic, and 186 people have been hospitalized.

Across Florida, the DOH reported there were 28,576 total cases as of Tuesday night, 927 deaths and 4,455 hospitalizations.