Florida surpasses 8,000 COVID-19 deaths with Friday’s pandemic report

By MARC FREEMAN @ SOUTH FLORIDA SUN SENTINEL |AUG 07, 2020 AT 1:45 PM

Fatalities linked to COVID-19 continue to rise in Florida, as the state on Friday reported another 180 deaths.

While devastating, the total is fewer than the record for a daily report, 257, posted one week earlier. The latest daily totals are not reflective of deaths in the past 24 hours, but rather recent weeks.

The state Department of Health says at least 8,051 people have died from COVID-19 complications since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Newly reported COVID-19 infections are holding steady. Officials reported 7,686 cases on Friday, just a hair more than the 7,650 cases added on the previous day. The state has not seen a day with more than 10,000 cases in two weeks.

The state says the overall total is now at 518,075 people who have tested positive for infections. The test results reported on a single day typically reflect tests taken over several days.

There was one less encouraging sign, however: the percentage of positive tests crept back up to 10.1% among people who tested positive for the first time in the most recent statewide summary [....]