Jacksonville surpasses 45,000 coronavirus infections

Jacksonville has now racked up more than 45,000 cases of coronavirus since the outbreak began in March, according Florida Department of Health data released Thursday.

Duval County now has a total of 45,575 infections, up 606 cases from the previous day. Jacksonville, for the first time in several days, held steady on the number of deaths related to the virus, remaining at 634.

Jacksonville’s positive COVID-19 test rate also appears to have stabilized, at least for the moment. The positivity test rate was 9.56% down from the previous rate of 9.59%. It’s the second day in a row that the positivity rate was below 10%.

The five-county First Coast region had a total of 68,520 infections as of Thursday, up by 917 from the previous day. It’s the biggest single-day increase in cases this week. There were eight new deaths from coronavirus added to the regional tally for a new total of 977.

Clay County recorded the most fatalities in the past day for a total of 154, up from 149. There are now a total of 8,306 cases in Clay, up from 8,195. The positivity rate jumped to 12.57%, an increase from 8.92%

St. Johns County added two new coronavirus fatalities for a total of 99. There are a total of 9,217 cases in St. Johns and a positivity rate of 9.83%, down from the previous day’s rate of 12.66%.

Baker County added a fatality as well for a total of 33 coronavirus deaths. The total case count rose to 2,080 in Baker, up by 17 and the positivity rate climbed to 17.48%, up by about 5.5%.

Nassau County added 51 new cases for a total of 3,342 and no new fatalities, holding steady at 57. The positivity rate showed a notable drop, though, falling from 17.65% to 10.56%.

Across the state, 1,029,030 people have been infected by COVID-19 while 19,112 fatalities have been recorded.