Florida tops 80,000 COVID-19 deaths

TALLAHASSEE – Passing another grim milestone, more than 80,000 Florida residents have died of COVID-19 since the pandemic started in early 2020.

The state Department of Health released a report Friday that said at least 80,386 residents had died of COVID-19 as of Thursday.

That total was up from 79,573 in a report released Aug. 26 and up from 78,559 in a report released Aug. 12.

Because of lags in reporting, it is unclear when the additional deaths occurred.

The new report also showed a continued slowing in reported COVID-19 cases.

Florida had 28,791 newly reported cases last week, after totaling 38,956 the previous week.

As a comparison, it had 78,215 new cases during the week that started July 8 and 76,012 new cases during the week that started July 15, according to the report.