Surge comes from younger age groups

A flood of new coronavirus cases this month comes from expanded testing of younger people who won’t wind up in hospitals or die from the disease, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday.

By pointing to more testing in agricultural communities, workplaces and among millennials who get swabbed at pharmacies, the governor downplayed reports of 1,000 new cases counted on nine out of the past 10 days.

“What we’re seeing is of the people that are testing positive way more are in the 25 to 45 (age range) than was happening two months ago,” he said at a news conference at the University of Miami in Coral Gables.

“The clinical consequences of them testing positive is usually very, very modest because they are not in the high-risk groups,” DeSantis continued. “These are people who by and large do not have any symptoms, so they’re being told as a precautionary measure to test.”

Florida health officials on Friday said 1,902 people tested positive for COVID-19 over the previous day. You have to go back to March 30 to count as many people diagnosed with infections on a single day.

The Department of Health’s latest totals show 70,971 people have been infected, with 2,967 deaths, since the outbreak began. That’s an increase of 29 deaths in the past 24 hours. The death toll includes 90 non-residents.

In the early weeks of the pandemic, most of the people getting tested had symptoms or were 65 and older, those considered highrisk. Now, there are no such requirements for getting swabbed, and part of the increased testing in the past month has included outreach to farm workers.

“The number one outbreak we’ve seen is in the agricultural communities,” DeSantis said, citing cases in Collier, Palm Beach, Martin and other counties. “These are workers that are working close together. Once one gets it it tends to spread very rapidly throughout those areas … the good thing about that is these are people in low-risk groups, so you have almost none of them end up hospitalized.”

He added there is a concern if farm workers live in multi-generational homes with older people, or if they leave to go home to other states and spread the infection. To help with social distancing, there will be efforts made in some areas, including Palm Beach County, to add more buses to farms.

The governor also said part of the recent surge in cases may be due to widespread testing in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities, which have a resident positivity rate of about 8%.

Records show that 51% of Florida’s COVID-19 fatalities have been in long-term care facilities. There have been 10,668 cases among residents and staff.

“We’ve actually had more COVID-related fatalities age 90 and above then we’ve had age 65 and below,” DeSantis told reporters. “So if you’re seeing an area where you have positive cases and they’re in that younger demographic, [it’s] probably not as significant clinically.”

A recent wave of protests for racial justice across the state — in response to the May 25 police that bring workers killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis — have not resulted in a spike of coronavirus cases, DeSantis said.

“There is not yet evidence that I’m aware of that that sparked any type of significant outbreaks,” he said, adding that it could be a clear sign that outdoor events are safe as long as people take precautions.

The state says 1.3 million people have been tested so far for COVID-19, and about 5.3% have tested positive. It’s higher in South Florida, where 7.9% of the tests have been positive.

But the percentage of positive tests is lower compared with the same period four weeks ago.

The percentage of people diagnosed with the disease is lower than it was May 15, when it stood at 7% statewide and 10% in the

region that includes MiamiDade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Florida has been averaging 30,000 test results a day, and DeSantis said he expects this will continue for the foreseeable future.

”I think it’s important for people to understand who is being tested now and who was being tested in March and early April when we had our peaks,” he said.

To date, 11,706 people have been treated in Florida hospitals for COVID-19 illness. That’s an increase of 3,747 people over the past four weeks. Still, between 25% and 35% of hospital