ORLANDO, Fla. – Early voting has officially begun in Florida but voters have been casting their votes by mail for weeks in large part due to the coronavirus pandemic. On Monday, Florida Department of Health officials reported 1,707 new cases of the respiratory illness with the 2020 election a little more than three weeks away.
With its 29 electoral votes, Florida is crucial to both candidates. Under state law, counties can offer up to two weeks of early voting and many do, including nine out of 10 Central Florida counties. By Saturday, in-person early voting will be open in all Florida counties.
[TRENDING: Big rig with police lights pulling over drivers | Voter Guide 2020 | Belt buckle may solve cold case]
About 2.8 million ballots have already been cast as of Monday morning, nearly 653,000 voted in person early, the rest voted by mail.
Below is a breakdown of the latest coronavirus numbers in Florida:
Cases
The Florida Department of Health reported 1,707 new cases on Monday, bringing the state’s overall total to 756,727. Over the past six days, the DOH has reported more than 2,500 cases per day. It’s not unusual for the totals to be lower overall after the weekend.
Deaths
The Florida Department of Health on Monday reported 54 people have recently died from COVID-19. As of Monday’s coronavirus report, 16,222 deaths across the state have been related to the coronavirus, a number that includes 201 non-resident deaths in Florida. Over the past 10 days, Florida has averaged more than 80 new reported deaths per day.
State health officials have always maintained that virus fatalities are often delayed in being reported to the FDOH, with some deaths not reported for a month or more.
Hospitalizations
The state reported 72 new hospitalizations on Monday, meaning the state has seen a total of 47,125 patients admitted into a hospital since March in relation to COVID-19.
Currently, there are 2,058 people with the virus hospitalized in Florida, according to the state Agency for Health Care Administration, an increase by about 50 patients in the last 24 hours.
Positivity Rate
More than 5.7 million people have been tested for the virus since March. According to state health officials, 4.9 million have tested negative while more than 756,700 have tested positive, bringing the state’s overall positivity rate to 13.17%
For tests reported to the state within the last 48 hours for people who tested positive for the first time, the rate was 4.86% on Sunday, according to the DOH. The percent of positive results has ranged from 3.43% to 7.87% over the past 2 weeks.
[SEE YESTERDAY’S REPORT: Florida health officials report over 2,000 new cases of COVID-19]
If you are having trouble viewing the dashboard on mobile, click here.
Below is a Central Florida county-by-county breakdown of COVID-19 overall totals and new data:
| County | Cases | New Cases | Hospitalizations | New Hospitalizations | Deaths | New Deaths |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brevard | 10,427 | 30 | 951 | 0 | 347 | 2 |
| Flagler | 1,971 | 15 | 159 | 0 | 37 | 2 |
| Lake | 8,195 | 27 | 691 | 3 | 218 | 0 |
| Marion | 10,458 | 14 | 1,034 | 1 | 335 | 0 |
| Orange | 43,621 | 168 | 1,490 | 1 | 534 | 4 |
| Osceola | 13,501 | 27 | 738 | 6 | 182 | 1 |
| Polk | 21,837 | 57 | 2,261 | 5 | 589 | 3 |
| Seminole | 9,737 | 26 | 716 | 0 | 235 | 0 |
| Sumter | 2,754 | -2 | 270 | 0 | 80 | 1 |
| Volusia | 11,976 | 33 | 913 | 0 | 307 | 1 |
To keep up with the latest news on the pandemic, subscribe to News 6′s coronavirus newsletter and go to ClickOrlando.com/coronavirus.