Polk County has added 37 new cases of COVID-19, the second highest amount reported in one day, and three new deaths from the disease, according to today’s update from the Florida Department of Health. At the same time, the percentage of tests that come back positive is generally declining.

Two of the three deaths in Polk County involved residents of long-term-care facilities. All three were women. Their ages were 73, 78 and 103. The state reports don’t specify which two had been long-term-care residents.

Polk has seen increasing numbers of people tested for COVID-19 for nearly a month, and in that period the cumulative percent testing positive has dropped from 6.1% to today’s 4.6%. That figure has been under 5% since May 20.

In another measure of positive tests, the Florida Chamber of Commerce is tracking the weekly percent of tests that are positive, and showed a decrease for last week to 2.78% after an uptick the previous week.

Polk showed a lower percentage of positive tests than the state as a whole, which registered 3.62% last week. Here are the Polk and Florida rates charged out:

Latest numbers

This morning’s COVID-19 updates from the Florida Department of Health compared with the previous day:

  • Polk confirmed cases: 1,243, an increase of 37
  • Lakeland confirmed cases: 493, an increase of 16
  • Polk deaths: 70, an increase of a
  • Polk hospitalizations: 350, an increase of 8

The numbers of confirmed cases and hospitalizations are cumulative and do not reflect how many people have recovered or have been released from the hospital.

Testing in Polk

  • Total tested: 27,208, an increase of 571
  • Positive: 1,243
  • Negative: 25,955
  • Inconclusive: 8
  • Await results: 9
  • Percent positive: 4.6%, an increase of .1%

The number of people tested is 3.75% of Polk County’s estimated population of 724,777 people. The Florida Department of Health’s goal is to see 500 people a day tested this month.

Long-term care facilities

  • Deaths involving Polk facilities: 53, an increase of 2
  • Number of Polk facilities with reported cases: 10, Here’s a link to today’s report, but note that this link lasts only until the next day’s report is issued.

Lakeland facilities with high numbers:

  • Highlands Lake Center reports 93 cases: 67 residents who were transferred away and 26 staff.
  • Lakeland Hills Center reports 58 cases: 29 residents, 21 who transferred away and 8 staff members
  • Grace Manor at Lake Morton reports 45 cases: 38 residents who were transferred away and 7 staff.
  • Consulate Health Care of Lakeland reports 23 cases: 8 residents, 12 who transferred away and 3 staff.

A large majority of COVID-19 deaths in Polk County have involved people who have lived in long-term-care facilities:

More Polk County data

The Florida Department of Health is now releasing county-by-county charts. Here are today’s for Polk:

Click the image to view a larger version
Click the image to view a larger version

ZIP Codes

Cases in Lakeland ZIP codes:

33801: 74
33803: 36
33805: 100, an increase of 16 over the last three days
33809: 49
33810: 59
33811: 16
33812: 16
33813: 115
33815: 19

View an interactive ZIP code map here. To find local ZIP code data, click on the “Cases by Zip Code” tab below the map and then scroll to Polk and click. Learn how ZIP code data is reported.

Cases in Polk cities

  • Lakeland, 492
  • Winter Haven, 237
  • Davenport, 98
  • Bartow, 74
  • Lake Wales, 63
  • Kissimmee, 59*
  • Auburndale, 47
  • Haines City, 34
  • Mulberry, 32
  • Fort Meade, 22
  • Frostproof, 13
  • Eagle Lake, 9
  • Poinciana, 8
  • Lake Alfred, 7
  • Dundee, 5
  • Polk City, 5
  • Babson Park, 3
  • Wahneta, 2
  • Kathleen, 2
  • Waverly, 2
  • Gibsonia, 1
  • Cypress Gardens, 1
  • Bradley, 1
  • Champions Gate, 1
  • Indian Lakes Estates, 1
  • Lake Hamilton, 1
  • Lakeshore (formerly Fedhaven), 1
  • Clermont, 1*
  • No city named, 9

* While Kissimmee is in Osceola County, the Health Department classifies a portion of east Polk as Kissimmee. It maintains a separate number for the Osceola portion of Kissimmee. A similar situation exists for Clermont, which is in Lake County.

Download the latest detailed Florida report | View archived reports

Tracking the cases

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Barry Friedman founded Lkldnow.com in 2015 as the culmination of a career in print and digital journalism. Since 1982, he has used the tools of reporting, editing and content curation to help people in Lakeland understand their community better.

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