Florida reported 253 new COVID-19 related deaths on Thursday. The fatalities mark the third day in a row that the Sunshine State has reported its highest single-day death toll during the pandemic. The Florida Department of Health on Tuesday reported 186 new deaths due to COVID-19. The next day, that number jumped to 216. Both records were eclipsed Thursday when 9,943 additional COVID cases were also confirmed by the state's department of health. More than 6,300 people in Florida have now died from the disease, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.