Drew Dixon
The five-county First Coast region broke 1,000 deaths attributed to coronavirus, according to Florida Department of Health data released Monday.
There are now 1,004 fatalities caused by COVID-19 in Northeast Florida since the outbreak began in March. More striking is the pace of increased fatalities on the First Coast in the past week. There were 937 fatalities attributed to the pandemic a week ago.
The latest fatality figure represents a rapid acceleration in deaths attributed to the pandemic in recent months since the outbreak began in March. At the midway point of the pandemic on July 20, there were a total of 165 fatalities on the First Coast, only about 16.4% of the current death count that has been amassed in the past four and a half months.
The number of infections has also skyrocketed on the First Coast, but nowhere near the rate of deaths. There were 22,845 cases of COVID-19 on July 20. That’s about 32% of the current case count of 70,688 infections in the region.
Jacksonville, the area with the most population and that clearly accounts for the majority of those cases, showed a sharp spike in deaths, jumping from 604 deaths a week ago to 656 Monday. That’s an increase of 9.2% for the entire coronavirus death count recorded in one week in Jacksonville.
The Jacksonville case count for infections also spiked in one week jumping from 43,978 to 47,418. The one positive figure was the positivity rate for tests for the infection fell to 8.33%, the lowest figure in the past week.
St. Johns County broke the century mark for fatalities with 101 deaths caused by coronavirus as of Monday’s data release. That figure was at 96 a week ago.
St. Johns County also had 9,620 infections reported, up from 8,832 a week ago.
Clay County now has 8,649 cases, up from 8,019 a week ago. Clay saw a modest increase in fatalities going from 148 a week ago to 156.
Nassau County has 3,472 infections, up from 3,196 a week ago along with 59 fatalities, up by two from a week ago.
Baker County has 2,114 infections, up from 2,030 a week ago with only one new fatality in the past week ticking up from 32 to 33.
The state figures now stand at 1,065,785 infections across Florida and 19,529 fatalities.
