Florida hits new coronavirus death mark with 156 in one day

Florida reached ar omius mark Thursday with a record 156 deaths from coronavirus reported in a single day as state continues to experience a swift rise in cases.

state Department of Health reported 13,965 new coronavirus cases in Florida, bringing total throughout pandemic in Florida to nearly 316,000.

In Miami-Dade County, state’s most populous and current epicenter of outbreak, re were more than 3,100 new coronavirus cases reported.

156 deaths statewide eclipsed previous record set Tuesday of 132 reported deaths. On a seven-day aver, Florida is w at over 100 deaths per day — well above previous months.

Hospitalizations also have been surging, filling up ICU units at several hospitals. Statewide, number of patients being treated in hospital for coronavirus was at 8,809 Thursday morning, up from 8,276 at same time day before.

Hospitalizations were relatively stable in Miami-Dade County, which was a promising sign for worst-hit county, but y surged elsewhere including in Tampa’s Hillsborough County, going from 282 to 460 patients in hospital for coronavirus.

Thursday’s number of coronavirus deaths pushes total for Florida during pandemic to 4,766, health department reported.

Gov. Ron DeSantis and first lady Casy DeSantis were scheduled later Thursday to appear at a roundtable event in Tampa on impact of coronavirus on mental health.

Also Thursday, Florida’s jobless claims last week nearly doubled to more than 129,000 new applicants compared to prior week, according to federal figures released Thursday.

jump came after state officials placed restrictions on onsite consumption of alcohol in Florida bars in response to a spike in number of coronavirus cases.

“Everything that has been happening in ecomy in this cycle has been driven by public health measures,” said Sean Snaith, an ecomist at University of Central Florida.

Unemployed Floridians have filed more than 2.8 million unique jobless claims since mid-March, according to Florida Department of Ecomic Opportunity.

As of Wednesday, more than 1.7 million Floridians have been paid more than $10 billion in unemployment claims.