First Coast adds 480 new coronavirus cases

Demand is so high for coronavirus tests at Lot J outside TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, cars are backed up on Bay Street wrapping around the stadium. Photo via Drew Dixon.

The five-county First Coast area recorded 480 new cases of coronavirus, according to Florida Department of Health data released Tuesday.

Monday’s total number of cases in Northeast Florida came it at 12,798, up from 12,318 Sunday. There were also three additional deaths attributed to COVID-19 Monday on the First Coast bringing that total to 118. The number of hospitalizations in the area now stands at 618.

Jacksonville accounted for most of the cases, increasing by 348 to 9,835. While a jump of more than 300 new infections in one day is notable, it’s nowhere near the record numbers of more than 700 new daily cases that Jacksonville was recording in the past two weeks.

Jacksonville also added two deaths for a total of 70.

Jacksonville’s positivity rate continued its recent upward trend. Monday’s figure showed 15.2% of all tests administered in Jacksonville returned positive. The seven day average positivity rate remains above 15%.

The increasing numbers in Duval County come as Jacksonville announced the city will open three new federal testing facilities. Each of the sites on the city’s Westside, Northside and Arlington neighborhoods will be drive-through optional.

The new sites come as the city’s most popular testing site outside TIAA Bank Field in Lot J has been overwhelmed with hundreds of area residents lining up on a daily basis. Lines have been so long that cars have been backed up for blocks and some people have had to wait for hours before tests were administered.

St. Johns County is showing the same trend with 10.6% of its coronavirus tests showing positive results as of Monday.  St. Johns averaged an 11.7% positive test rate for the past week.

St. Johns had a total of 1,433 cases of COVID-19 Monday, up over Sunday’s figure of 1,383.

Clay County also recorded a notable uptick in cases going from 1,017 Sunday to 1,074 Monday.

Nassau County increased from 325 cases Sunday to 346 Monday and recorded only its second death since the outbreak began in March.

Baker County added four new cases.

Across Florida, there are now 213,794 total cases of coronavirus, 3,841 deaths and 16,425 hospitalizations.

Editor’s note on methodology: The Florida Department of Health releases new data every morning around 10:45 a.m. The total number reported in those daily reports include the previous day’s totals as well as the most up to date data as of about 9:30 a.m.

Florida Politics uses the report-over-report increase to document the number of new cases each day because it represents the most up-to-date data available. Some of the more specific data, including positivity rates and demographics, considers a different data set that includes only cases reported the previous day.

This is important to note because the DOH report lists different daily totals than our methodology to show day-over-day trends. Their numbers do not include non-residents who tested positive in the state and they only include single-day data, therefore some data in the DOH report may appear lower than what we report.

Our methodology was established based on careful consideration among our editorial staff to capture both the most recent and accurate trends.