More than 6K new COVID-19 cases reported as Florida nears one million

JACKSONVILLE, Florida – With an increase of more than 6,000 new COVID-19 cases reported on Saturday, Florida is on track to surpass 1 million cases of the virus by the start of next week – the third state in the country to reach this questionable milestone .

The state health department reported 267 new cases in Duval County on Saturday, including five deaths.

The report released on Saturday by the Florida Department of Health follows a wave of new cases reported in Jacksonville during Thanksgiving week.

Duval County’s increase of 1,037 cases from Thursday and Friday marked a two-day average of 518.5. The last time Jacksonville had so many cases in two days was July 19-20.

Daily increase in cases in Florida and Duval County since June 1

The report released on Saturday increased the number of cases in Florida since March 1 to 985,297. Since the state has averaged about 8,000 cases per day, the state will likely exceed one million by Monday.

There were 81 additional COVID-19-related deaths in Florida in Saturday’s report, including one additional death each in St. Johns County.