JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Florida set yet another record for newly confirmed coronavirus cases in data reported Wednesday by the Florida Department of Health.
The 17,783 increase in cases brings the state to 1,409,906 since the pandemic began.
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Florida has reported more than 10,000 cases each of the last nine days, averaging 14,826 a day over the last week -- the highest week of increases since the pandemic reached Florida in March.
There were an additional 1,091 cases in Duval County on Wednesday, 242 in St. Johns County, 226 in Clay County and 219 in Alachua County in the latest report from the FDOH.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the state has reported 22,647 deaths related to the virus.
The statewide positivity rate based on Tuesday’s testing was 12.59%, the health department said Wednesday.
As of 4:48 p.m. Wednesday, 7,303 people were hospitalized in Florida with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, according to the state Agency for Health Care Administration.
According to the latest vaccination data from the state, 25,635 first doses were administered Tuesday, bringing the total in the state to 329,060. Most of the Floridians who have been vaccinated are health care workers and first responders, although an increasing number are seniors 65 years or older, who the governor has made a key demographic for vaccinations.
More than 82% of those who have died from the disease in Florida have been older than 65.
Florida has one of the nation’s oldest populations with 4.4 million of the state’s 21 million population 65 years or older.
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.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.