TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Florida added nearly 9,500 coronavirus cases to its official tally on Friday, after breaking the single-day record twice in the past week.
The state reported 9,488 additional cases of COVID-19 along with 67 deaths on Friday. There have been 178,594 total cases of COVID-19 and 3,684 deaths since the outbreak began. Nearly 15,500 people have been hospitalized.
The state has tested more than 2 million people and reported 1,902,766 tests came back negative.
8 On Your Side has repeatedly heard from viewers who have struggled to get access to coronavirus tests throughout the bay area. It’s an issue we brought to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ attention when he visited Tampa last week. DeSantis told us capacity would be expanded at testing sites and that the state would help if needed.
The percent positivity for new cases — the number of people who tested positive for the first time divided by all the people tested that day — was 14.91% on Thursday, up from 14.59% on Wednesday.
The total percent of positive cases on Thursday was 17.17%. The state reported a total of 57,271 negative test results and 11,550 positive results.
The total percent positive includes people who have been tested multiple times for coronavirus, but a person is only counted once for each day their result is received by the state.
Florida’s Department of Health has also been tracking the median age of positive cases each day. The median age for Wednesday was 37.
The state report released Fridays shows Floridians in the 25 – 34 age range still account for the largest percentage of cases. A total of 36,055 people in that age group have tested positive, which is 21% of the state’s total. Of those cases, 965 people have been hospitalized and 20 have died.
Here is the county-by-county breakdown across Tampa Bay as of Thursday:
HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY
Total Cases: 12,952
Deaths: 148
Hospitalizations: 654
PINELLAS COUNTY
Total Cases: 7,622
Deaths: 183
Hospitalizations: 709
SARASOTA COUNTY
Total Cases: 1,776
Deaths: 98
Hospitalizations: 217
SARASOTA COUNTY
Total Cases: 1,776
Deaths: 98
Hospitalizations: 217
POLK COUNTY
Total Cases: 4,640
Deaths: 105
Hospitalizations: 488
HERNANDO COUNTY
Total Cases: 465
Deaths: 5
Hospitalizations: 43
HIGHLANDS COUNTY
Total Cases: 387
Deaths: 11
Hospitalizations: 68
CITRUS COUNTY
Total Cases: 364
Deaths: 13
Hospitalizations: 40
HARDEE COUNTY
Total Cases: 491
Deaths: 3
Hospitalizations: 43
For more information on coronavirus in Florida, visit the live DOH Dashboard here.
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