Jacksonville, neighboring counties see highest one-day increase in COVID-19 cases

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The provinces of Duval, Clay, Nassau and St. Johns all saw a record increase in COVID-19 cases in the report from the Florida Department of Health.

The state on Tuesday added 15,431 new cases of coronavirus and 100 COVID-related deaths. While not a record for the state, Florida has had an average of 14,000 new cases over the past seven days – the highest week of increases since the pandemic began in March.

There were another 1331 cases in Duval County on Tuesday, 307 in St. Louis. Johns County, 204 in Clay County and 123 cases in Nassau County in the latest FDOH report – the highest increase in one day in those counties.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the state has recorded 1,392,123 cases and 22,515 deaths related to the virus.

The health department said on Tuesday that the positive positive percentage on Monday’s test was 12.74%.

As of Tuesday, 7,342 people in Florida have been hospitalized 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, 20,195 first doses were administered on Monday, bringing the total in the state to 289,773. Most Floridians vaccinated are health workers and first responders, although an increasing number of seniors aged 65 or older have made the governor an important demographic for vaccinations.

More than 82% of those who died of the disease in Florida were older than 65.

Florida has one of the oldest populations in the country with 4.4 million of the state’s 21 million inhabitants aged 65 and over.

Common symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough, breathing problems, sore throat, muscle aches and loss of taste or smell. Most people develop only mild symptoms. However, some people, usually people with other medical complications, develop worse symptoms, including pneumonia.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.