Drew Dixon
The five-county First Coast region has cracked 66,000 cases of COVID-19 while every county in the region has exceeded a 10% positivity rate, according to Florida Department of Health data released Monday.
There were a total of 66,055 people infected in the Northeast Florida region. Out of that figure, 937 people have died from coronavirus on the First Coast.
All five counties recorded notable jumps in the rate for positive test results. Four out of the five counties in the region were below 10% on Saturday. As of Sunday every one of those counties was above the 10% rate and all showed notable single-day increases.
Duval County, which had a total of 43,978 infections and 604 deaths, went from 8.35% positivity to 10.59%. Jacksonville had been below the 10% mark for the past two weeks. The average rate was 7.68% for the past 14 days, with the lowest positivity rate in that time at 5.87% on Nov. 21.
St. Johns County also recorded its highest positivity rate in the past half month. That county has 8,832 total cases of COVID-19 with 96 fatalities and a rising positive test rate. That figure came in at 13.37%, up over the previous day’s 9.48%. It’s only the second time St. Johns has exceeded 10% in the past 14 days. The average daily positive test rate in that time span was 8.15% with the lowest point, 5.43%, recorded on Nov. 17.
Clay County, with 8,019 infections with 148 fatalities, jumped from a 9.51% positive test rate to 11.34%. But Clay County has shown erratic data lately, with an average positive test rate of 10.49% over the past 14 days with the peak at 15.57% on Nov. 18 and a low of 6.26% on Nov. 24.
Nassau County, with 3,196 infections and 57 fatalities, went from a 9.4% positivity test rate to 14.05%. Nassau has also seen wide fluctuations in test rates as well, averaging 9.76% in the past two weeks with a peak of 15.83% on Nov. 24 and a low of 4.84% on Nov. 26.
Baker County saw a big one-day jump in positive test rates. Baker now has 2,030 infections with 32 coronavirus deaths and a 20.41% rate. That’s the highest figure in the past two weeks and up from the previous day’s 12.9%. The average positivity rate in Baker in the past 14 days was 9.2%.
There are now 999,319 recorded coronavirus infections in Florida with 18,834 deaths attributed to the affliction.
