Drew Dixon
The First Coast region surpassed 108,000 coronavirus cases, according to Florida Department of Health data released Monday.
Northeast Florida now has 108,033 total COVID-19 infections in the five-county region. While that figure is a hike over the previous day’s tally of 107,325 cases, the pace of increased cases on the First Coast has finally started to slow down, at least for now.
The region saw jumps of about 2,000 cases almost every day last week.
The number of deaths caused by coronavirus for the First Coast increased to 1,215 and the collective positivity test rate came in at 15.93% for the region collectively.
Duval County saw a sharp decrease in the number of new cases. Jacksonville increased to 70,905 cases Monday. It was a jump of 381 infections in one day, a sharp decrease from jumps that hovered near 1,500 new cases each day last week.
Jacksonville added six new fatalities caused by the pandemic for a total of 781 and a positivity test rate of 11.21%
Jacksonville’s slow down in figures comes as the city began offering more vaccines to help stem the spread of the pandemic. Two new vaccination centers were opened Monday at former testing locations.
City officials noted steady activity for the vaccines at the Lane Wiley Senior Center and Mandarin Senior Center. There were moments Monday where as many 300 people were waiting in line to get vaccinated at both facilities.
In other areas of the First Coast:
— Johns County recorded a new count of 15,492 cases of coronavirus, added six new deaths for a new total of 129 and a 16.73% positivity test rate.
— Clay County added 92 new infections for a total of 13,171, held steady at 197 deaths and a 13.99% positivity test rate.
— Nassau County increased by 54 cases for a total of 5,772, remained at 70 deaths and recorded a positivity test rate of 16.18%
— Baker County added 12 new cases, remained at 38 deaths and a 21.54% positivity test rate.
Across Florida, there are now 1,488,586 infections and 23,424 deaths caused by the pandemic.
