DeSantis: Broward, Miami good at wearing masks

Virus cases not falling as fast in Palm Beach County

Assessing the trends in coronavirus cases in South Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis suggested Monday the willingness of residents to wear masks is playing a role.

And the governor warned about outbreaks among farm workers. “You don’t want those folks mixing with the general public if you have an outbreak,” he said.

As DeSantis touted the decline in the rate of positive test results in MiamiDade County, the state’s coronavirus hot spot, and in Broward, he said the rate hasn’t progressed as well in Palm Beach County.

One factor he raised was wearing of masks, which is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help curb the spread of the virus.

“I think Miami does more masking and Broward does more masking. I don’t think they do it as much in Palm Beach,” DeSantis said at a news conference at the Miami-Dade County emergency operations center.

Another factor is outbreaks in the agriculture community, which is significant in western Palm Beach County near Lake Okeechobee.

DeSantis said there have been outbreaks in several agriculture related communities, including Belle Glade in Palm Beach County, Indiantown in Martin County and Immokalee in Collier County.

Speaking about the trends in test results, DeSantis said, “I think one of the places that we didn’t see, haven’t seen as much of a decline, Palm Beach County, part of that is because of the ag, but we think that there may be some more there so … the [state] surgeon general is working with the county health department there to figure out if there is any more strategies.”

Many agriculture workers live in close proximity, which contributes to the spread of coronavirus, DeSantis said. “Because you’re in such close contact, it really spreads,” he said. “You don’t want those folks mixing with the general public if you have an outbreak.”

Overall, DeSantis said, coronavirus trends in Florida are a success story. Although positive numbers have been high — the state on Monday ended a five-day streak of 1,000-plus new cases a day — the governor said that isn’t a cause for alarm.

He attributed that largely to more widespread availability of testing. In the last two weeks, he said, Florida has averaged 30,000 test results a day. At the end of the March and early April, he said the state was doing less than 10,000 tests a day.

Part of the result of more testing, he said, is more positive test results, which doesn’t mean more people are infected with the coronavirus. It may instead mean that more people who have the virus, but aren’t showing symptoms, are getting tested.

“Really widespread testing” is important to the state’s reopening and returning to more normal activities.

He said the picture looks especially rosy if people exclude high-risk settings when assessing coronavirus cases.