TALLAHASSEE – Florida’s deaths in 2024 linked to COVID-19 totaled 5,914 with a 146 increase in December, according to the Florida Department of Health.
Meanwhile, cases spiked in December, one month after being the lowest since the pandemic began in 2020.
The previous month the deaths increase was 284 and in October it was 703.
For the year that averages to 493 monthly and 16 daily.
Since the pandemic hit the state in 2020, there have been 98,886 fatalities. With the first two deaths reported on March 5, 2020, that comes out to 56 per day. Florida’s population 23,372,215 as of July 2024, so the COVID-19 death rate is 0.4%.
The first year, Florida had reported 23,349 deaths, according to state data. The number jumped to 39,870 in 2021, declining to 21,309 in 2022 and then 8,444 in 2023.
The Health Department updates its data weekly and it’s likely more deaths will be counted for December.
The largest number of deaths this year was reported in Miami-Dade County with 521, followed by 449 in Palm Beach County and 65 in Pinellas County. Broward had 306 and Monroe 20.
In the past week there were 3,294 cases statewide compared with 2,674 the week before, 2,468 two weeks ago, 1,915 three weeks ago and 1,453 four weeks ago, the lowest since 358 on March 3, 2020 at the start of the pandemic when few tests were available. The high in 2024 was 23,772 on July 19
In 2023, the weekly low was 4,441 on Nov. 17 and the high was 28,162 on Jan. 6.
The most ever weekly cases: 428,378 on Jan. 7, 2022.
Cases reached 8,328,096 including 422,057 in 2024 and 776 so far in 2025. These are only infections reported to the state and often doesn’t include at-home tests. Weekly cases are adjusted as more data come in.
The most weekly cases in 2021 was 393,671 on Dec. 31 and in 2020 it was 83,753 on Dec. 31.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention no longer tracks cases, and deaths have transitioned to the National Center for Health Statistics. Those stats show Florida with 85,265, behind California with 115,364, Texas with 106,504 and New York with 85,598.
In Region 4, which includes Florida, the case positivity rate was 2.5% with 4,940 infections in the past week and 12,732 two weeks ago.
In vaccinations, the state reported 24,466,355 vaccinations.
