JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Since Florida began tracking coronavirus data in March, Duval County has reported more than 25,000 cases of COVID-19, according to data released Thursday by the state health department.
Jacksonville added 151 newly confirmed cases in Thursday’s report, bringing Duval County’s total to 25,117 cases of COVID-19. But Jacksonville reported no additional deaths Thursday.
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Statewide, Florida reported another 119 deaths of residents and non-residents, pushing the state’s total to 10,186 deaths related to coronavirus. That represents about 1.7% of all coronavirus cases confirmed in the state.
A 57-year-old and a 63-year-old woman died in Clay County. In Columbia County, two men, ages 75 and 27, were added to the deaths list. The 27-year-old was a Lake City VA nurse, according to family members.
An 84-year-old Flagler County woman and an 86-year-old Nassau County woman were also added to the state’s list of deaths Thursday.
Those six deaths pushed the total for the 11 Northeast Florida counties News4Jax tracks to 491 deaths since the pandemic began. Most of those have been in Duval County (232), Clay County (72) and St. Johns County (50).
Coronavirus deaths typically occur weeks or more after the disease is contracted and diagnosed. And the deaths reported in each day’s state data did not necessarily occur in the last 24 hours as the deaths often take many days to be reported to the state.
According to the Associated Press, the average daily reported deaths over the past week was 167 — down from a peak of 185 two weeks ago. As of Thursday, the seven-day average of new confirmed cases at 4,541 was at a low not seen since June 25.
Overall, the state continued its trend of lower numbers of added cases with 4,555 additional cases reported Wednesday. The state has now reported a total of 588,602 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
Hospitalizations for the disease have been on a downward trend over the past month. Late Thursday morning, 5,340 patients were being treated for the disease in Florida hospitals, compared with Wednesday’s 5,351. That number has dropped from a peak above 9,500 on July 23.
The statewide positivity rate for testing dropped to 6.78% on Wednesday.
“Those are all good trends. Those are all positive signs,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a discussion on mental health in Altamonte Springs.
Daily COVID-19 cases reported in Florida and Duval County
The decrease in case spikes and hospitalizations come as Florida's largest teacher's union argues with attorneys for the state of Florida over whether schools should reopen during the pandemic.
The Florida Education Association sued Gov. Ron DeSantis, Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran, the Florida Department of Education and others to stop brick-and-mortar schools from physically reopening, arguing it is unsafe to do so until the spread of the virus is under control.
The teacher’s union is seeking an injunction from a judge in Tallahassee to stop enforcement of a state order requiring schools to be open five days a week, starting this month.
With that decision pending, Duval County Public Schools opened its doors to students on Thursday with changes in place for bus transportation and classroom cleaning protocols.
RELATED: How will parents know if Duval County students are exposed to COVID-19?
Common symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough, breathing trouble, sore throat, muscle pain, and loss of taste or smell. Most people develop only mild symptoms. But some people, usually those with other medical complications, develop more severe symptoms, including pneumonia.