Florida Breaks 300K COVID-19 Cases, Adds 112 Deaths
MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) - The Florida Department of Health passed the 300,000 mark of confirmed coronavirus cases on Wednesday and reported more than 100 daily deaths for the third time in a week.
Health officials reported 10,181 new confirmed cases Wednesday, bringing the state's total to 301,810 since the outbreak began in the state March 1. The state recorded 112 deaths, the third time in the past seven days it has reported more than 100 — a mark that had only been topped once before last week. The state has now recorded 4,626 COVID-19 deaths.
Florida's rolling seven-day average for deaths is now 92 per day, triple the 31 posted a month ago just before the toll began creeping up and then exploding last week.
As of Tuesday, Florida had the No. 2 death rate in country, slightly behind Texas, which has 25% more residents.
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Still, Florida's death toll is nowhere near the national record. When COVID-19 was ravaging New York three months ago, state officials there recorded 799 deaths on April 9 and a seven-day average of 763 deaths on April 14, the highest in the country at the time.
New York now has one of the nation's lowest death rates per capita, recording 10 a day over the past week.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
