Fla. seeing case surge
Death toll tops 3,000
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Florida reported a new coronavirus death toll of 3,016 people on Saturday, including an increase of 49 fatalities in the past 24 hours.
At the same time, the Department of Health said 2,581 people tested positive for COVID-19 over the previous day.
It’s only the second time the state has ever had more than 2,000 people diagnosed with the disease in a single day. It hasn’t happened since March 30, when the pandemic was still in the early stages.
Saturday continued an unprecedented surge of cases in Florida, with at least 1,000 new infections counted on 10 out of the past 11 days.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said the data is not alarming, and reflects only a more robust testing program that includes farm workers, younger adults getting swabbed at convenient locations such as pharmacies, and residents of long-term care facilities.
The governor on Friday also said he has not seen any evidence that there is a spike in cases as a result of the state’s reopening of businesses and restaurants, racial justice protests, or Memorial Day festivities that brought large groups together.
The state’s latest totals show 73,552 people have been infected since the outbreak began. That number includes both residents and non-residents who were tested in the state. The death toll includes 90 non-residents.
Records show that 51% of Florida’s COVID-19 fatalities have been in nursing homes and long-term care facilities. There have been 10,761 cases among residents and staff.
The state says almost 1.4 million people have been tested so far for COVID-19, and about 5.4% have been diagnosed with the disease. The rate is higher in South Florida, where 8% of the tests to date have been positive, according to the state data.
The data show the results of 34,506 tests statewide in the past day, with 7.5% positive. That’s the highest of any day so far in June.
Still, the percentage of positive tests overall is lower compared to four weeks ago, when it stood at 7% for the entire state and 10% in the region that includes MiamiDade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.
The death toll now stands at 837 in Miami-Dade, 438 in Palm Beach
County and 378 in Broward, the state said. Miami-Dade had a oneday increase of 13 deaths.
In the three counties, reports show there have been 38,939 infected individuals since the outbreak began. There have been 1,269 new cases in the last day.
The region — home to 28.9% of Florida’s population — has had 54.8% of the state’s coronavirus deaths and 52.9% of the cases.
As of Saturday, 6,499 people have been treated in South Florida hospitals for COVID-19 illness. For the entire state, 11,874 people got medical care in hospitals at some point. Still, between 25% and 35% of hospital beds remain available, according to the governor.