ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - The Department of Health said Thursday that Florida logged 6,257 new coronavirus cases, the first time the state tallied more than 6,000 new cases since mid-August.
The state’s upward trajectory of cases mirrors the nation’s. New confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the U.S. have climbed to an all-time high of more than 86,000 per day on average.
In Florida, the weekly case average jumped to more than 4,600 cases announced per day, which is the sixth consecutive day it has increased. The average is also the highest it’s been since mid-August.
On Sept. 1, state data added more than 7,000 cases, but officials said many of them were weeks or even months old because Quest Diagnostics uploaded a backlog of about 75,000 tests. Gov. Ron DeSantis canceled the state’s contract with Quest as a result.
Nearly 17,000 people who tested positive for COVID-19 have died in Florida from the virus this year.
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