President Donald Trump and Democratic rival Joe Biden are set to chase votes in Florida on Thursday as they hope to garner the favor of those who are undecided.
More than 73 million Americans have already voted, either by mail or absentee, and Trump and Biden are trying to energize the millions more who will vote in person on Tuesday.
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Trump and Biden will appear in Tampa hours apart on Thursday, visiting the western end of the state’s Interstate 4 corridor, the area known for its rapid residential growth, sprawling suburbs and status as an ever-changing, hard-fought battleground during presidential elections.
In both Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa, and the adjacent Pinellas County, more Democrats have voted by mail. As of Wednesday morning, more than 53,000 Democrats had voted by mail in Hillsborough than Republicans. In Pinellas, the largest of the four counties in the state to switch from Obama to Trump in 2016, just shy of 30,000 more Democrats voting by mail than Republicans.
Republicans in both counties have a slight edge in the state’s in-person early voting, which began last Saturday, including when Trump voted in Palm Beach County.
[RELATED: Here’s what we know about Florida’s plan to distribute a COVID-19 vaccine]
Below is a breakdown of the most recent data provided by the Florida Department of Health.
Cases
The Florida Department of Health reported 4,198 new cases on Thursday, bringing the state’s overall total to 794,624 cases since March.
Deaths
The Florida Department of Health on Thursday reported 79 people have recently died from COVID-19. As of Thursday’s coronavirus report, a total of 16,854 deaths across the state have been related to the coronavirus, a number that includes 206 non-resident deaths in Florida.
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
Currently, there are 2,343 people with the virus hospitalized in Florida, according to the state Agency for Health Care Administration.
The state reported 289 new hospitalizations on Thursday, meaning the state has seen a total of 49,011 patients admitted to a hospital since March in relation to COVID-19.
Positivity Rate
The percent of positive results ranged from 3.65% to 6.72% over the past two weeks and was 4.90% Wednesday.
[SEE YESTERDAY’S REPORT: Florida health experts report 4,115 new COVID-19 cases, 66 deaths]
If you are having trouble viewing the dashboard on mobile, click here.
Below is a Central Florida county-by-county breakdown of COVID-19 for Oct. 29.
| County | Cases | New Cases | Hospitalizations | New Hospitalizations | Deaths | New Deaths |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brevard | 11,502 | 184 | 1,018 | 16 | 370 | 2 |
| Flagler | 2,117 | 2 | 169 | 0 | 38 | 0 |
| Lake | 8,613 | 33 | 728 | 6 | 228 | 1 |
| Marion | 10,819 | 24 | 1,059 | 5 | 347 | -1 |
| Orange | 45,941 | 186 | 1,594 | 7 | 559 | 10 |
| Osceola | 14,203 | 89 | 811 | 9 | 202 | 0 |
| Polk | 22,960 | 108 | 2,445 | 72 | 615 | 0 |
| Seminole | 10,239 | 51 | 747 | 6 | 241 | 0 |
| Sumter | 2,891 | 9 | 284 | 1 | 86 | -1 |
| Volusia | 12,755 | 85 | 957 | 5 | 318 | 0 |
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The Associated Press contributed to this story