Jacksonville adds 3 new coronavirus deaths, 273 total new cases

The number of Jacksonville’s new cases of COVID-19 seems to have slowed, but it’s still in the hundreds while there remains a high percentage of positive test results, according to Florida Department of Health data released Wednesday.

There were 273 new cases Tuesday, bringing Jacksonville’s total to 6,480. Duval county added three new deaths for a pandemic total of 67. The county hasn’t reported any new deaths since June 25.

Strikingly, the percentage of COVID-19 tests administered in Jacksonville have come back at least 10% positive for most of the past week.  Tuesday’s positive test results came in at 12.9%, slightly down from Monday’s record high of 14.9%.

Jacksonville now has a weekly coronavirus positive test result average figure of 12.7%, the highest average figure over a seven-day span in the city.

Meanwhile, intensive care unit availability at Jacksonville hospitals is starting to diminish. Jacksonville had avoided any notable strain on local hospitals since the outbreak began in March. But state figures for Tuesday show only 67 out of 359 adult ICU beds in Duval County hospitals are currently available – a 15.7% availability rate.

Elsewhere in the five-county First Coast area, St. Johns County recorded another notable increase in coronavirus cases jumping by 41 infections on Tuesday, bringing the total to 989 Tuesday.

St. Johns also set a new county record for the percentage of coronavirus tests returning positive. St. Johns saw a 13.2% positive test rate Tuesday, up over the previous record which was set Monday at 12.2%. St. Johns County has a 9.7% positive test rate for the past seven days.

Clay County increased by 16 cases Tuesday, Nassau County by 14 and Baker County by nine.

Across the Northeast Florida region,  there are now 8,466 cases of coronavirus, 113 deaths and 579 hospitalizations.

Florida has recorded 158,997 total cases with 3,550 deaths and 14,825 hospitalizations.