Florida Sets New State Coronavirus Death Record With 132
MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) - The Florida Department of Health recorded 132 coronavirus deaths on Tuesday.
It was a one-day record for Florida that has a possible caveat but also is in line with its skyrocketing fatality rate over the past week and its rapidly growing number of cases over the last month.
The 132 deaths is a 10% jump over the previous record set just Thursday. That likely includes deaths that happened Saturday or Sunday but were not reported by hospitals until Monday.
Still, the rolling seven-day average is now 81 deaths per day, currently the second-highest in the country behind Texas, and double the 39 averaged two weeks ago.
Doctors had been predicting that a surge in deaths would follow Florida's jump in daily reported cases, from about 2,000 a day a month ago to more than 12,000 now. The growing caseload is partly driven by increased testing, but a larger percentage of tests are coming back positive, jumping from 6% a month ago to more than 18%.
Almost all people infected with coronavirus survive, but those who do succumb usually die two or more weeks after they are first diagnosed.
Florida's death toll is nowhere near the national record. When COVID-19 was ravaging New York three months ago, it recorded 799 deaths on April 9 and had a top seven-day average of 763 deaths on April 14. Florida still has one of the nation's lowest death rates per capita, recording 10 per day over the last week.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
