Drew Dixon
The five-county First Coast region surged past 80,000 total coronavirus cases, according to Florida Department of Health data released Friday.
Northeast Florida tallied 80,215 COVID-19 cases in Friday’s data. It’s an increase of 946 cases from the previous day. But that daily jump represents a decrease in the new numbers as the region had posted more than 1,000 new cases on Wednesday and Thursday.
The total number of First Coast coronavirus cases represents a stunning increase just since the midway point of the outbreak which began in March. On July 18, there were 21,111 total infections in the Northeast Region. Friday’s figure represents quadruple that midway point by racking up a staggering 59,104 new infections since then.
The number of deaths on the First Coast has also skyrocketed exponentially over the past four and a half months. There were only two new COVID-19 related deaths added in Friday’s report, but the total number now stands at 1,071. Compared to July 18 when there were 159 fatalities, that’s an increase of 912 deaths since the midway point.
Jacksonville itself passed a dubious threshold crashing past 53,000 cases for a total of 53,275 Friday, up from 52,674 the day before. More stunning was the comparison to the midway point on July 18 when Jacksonville tallied 15,903, that’s more than a three-fold increase.
Jacksonville held steady at 692 deaths. The positivity test rate fell to 9.43% in Jacksonville Friday, down from 10.82% and the first time in four days that positivity rate fell below 10%.
Clay County was the only First Coast county to add new deaths Friday with two for a total of 171. The total case load increased to 9,669, up 117 from the previous day.
St. Johns County surpassed the 11,000 mark for a total of 11,025 cases, up from 10,868 and holding steady at 108 deaths.
Nassau County has a total of 3,880 cases, up from 9,562 the day before and remaining at 64 deaths.
Baker County recorded 10 new infections for a total of 2,256 and held at 36 deaths.
Across Florida, there are now 1,181,483 people who’ve been infected with coronavirus and 20,690 have died from contracting the affliction in the state.
