Death toll approaches 15,000
Mayor urges governor to pass mask mandate
The state’s mask wars continued Sunday even as the daily tally for the coronavirus pandemic in Florida showed 1,868 new cases and another 43 resident deaths.
Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered the state to move into Phase 3 of its pandemic recovery plan more than a week ago, citing the state’s downtrend in cases and hospitalizations.
The order, issued on Sept. 25, prohibited local government officials from fining people who ignore rules requiring them to wear masks.
On Sunday, Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber sent a letter to DeSantis urging him to pass a statewide mask mandate and to allow cities and counties to continue fining people for not wearing masks when required.
Gelber accused the governor of being reckless by endorsing a view claiming there is no evidence that shows masks prevent the spread of the virus.
“The notion that we are still debating this seems incomprehensible given the recent infections of the First Family, and the horrific impact the virus has had on our own residents,” Gelber wrote, referring to the news that President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump now have the virus.
“Almost 15,000 Floridians have already perished from this disease, nearly a quarter in just my County,” Gelber wrote. “And 45,000 have been hospitalized, mostly in ICUs across the state. The dislocation to our economy and resulting unemployment and business failures have been unfathomable. Your recent order has made matters even worse as Floridians reasonably perceived it as a clear signal that masks are unnecessary.”
Fred Piccolo, the governor’s spokesman, declined to comment Sunday, saying he had not yet seen Gelber’s letter.
Since the pandemic began, state officials have reported 716,459 COVID-19 cases, based on reports from the Florida Department of Health. As of Sunday, 14,671 residents have died from the disease. Another 174 non-residents have also died; that’s one fewer than the state reported on Saturday.
Most of the deaths happened weeks ago, but were just recently confirmed as virus-related fatalities.
Florida ranks third overall for the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S., behind California and Texas.
Government leaders across South Florida have urged people to continue wearing masks to help prevent a surge in coronavirus cases.
“The most effective tool to combat the pandemic coronavirus is a mask,” Palm Beach County Mayor Dave Kerner said Friday. “We’ve all ... worn it for many months at this point. We know how important it is to continue to utilize this important weapon.”
Broward Mayor Dale Holness also said people should still bewearing their masks.
Miami-Dade County plans to keep on citing people, but will postpone collecting fines until later.
Worldwide, more than 1 million have died from the highly infectious coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center.
The U.S. has the highest number of deaths, with at least 209,668 as of 1:30 p.m. Sunday. Nearly 35 million people have tested positive for COVID-19 across the globe. That includes at least 7.4 million in the U.S.
South Florida
Broward County: 172 additional confirmed coronavirus cases were reported Sunday. The county has tallied a total of 77,934 cases and 1,446 deaths. That’s six more deaths than the day before. The county’s death tally included 27 nonresident deaths on Saturday. For unexplained reasons, the number went down to 26 on Sunday.
Miami-Dade County: 329 additional cases and four more fatalities were reported Sunday. The county has had a pandemic total of 172,205 cases and 3,354 deaths.
Palm Beach County: 117 additional cases of COVID-19 were reported Sunday. The county has had 47,079 confirmed cases and 1,416 deaths linked to the disease. Three more deaths were reported since Saturday.
Testing and positivity rates
At least 5.4 million people have been tested for COVID-19 in Florida since the pandemic began, producing an overall positivity rate of 13.26%, state data show. At least 716,459 people have tested positive and 4.68 million people have tested negative.
The state reported a daily positivity rate of 3.74 on Sunday, down from 4.74% the day before.
Other sources reported a higher rate, however. According to Johns Hopkins University, Florida’s daily positivity rate hit an average of 11.2% over the past week.
In South Florida, the cumulative positivity rates are 18.45% for Miami-Dade County, 13.47% for Broward County and12.55% for Palm Beach County.
As of Sunday, 933,264 people have been swabbed in Miami-Dade, 578,703 people have been tested in Broward, and 375,226 people have been tested for COVID-19 in Palm Beach County.
The daily positivity rates are 3.74% for Broward County, an increase from 2.82% the day before; 3.22% for Palm Beach County, down from 3.49%; and 4.6% for Miami-Dade County, down from 5.54%. This is just for new infections only.
Sunday’s report from the state shows test results for 54,194 Florida residents. That’s down from 63,819 results on Saturday and 77,609 results on Friday. Those numbers include people who have been tested before.
Hospitalizations
As of 1:45 p.m. Sunday, 2,039 people across the state were hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19. That’s three more since 1p.m. Saturday.
Broward County reported197 patients hospitalized, 10 fewer than the day before; Palm Beach County had 101, two more than Saturday; and Miami-Dade had the most in the state with 272, an increase of 10.
The online report from the state Agency for Health Care Administration updates several times throughout the day. Hospitalizations hit a peak in late July, with more than 9,000 patients being treated for the disease.
Deaths
Statewide: The official COVID-19 report, updated Sunday, shows 14,671 Florida resident deaths. In addition, 174 non-resident deaths have been attributed to the virus in the state; that’s one fewer death than reported on Saturday. The state does not say whether the victims had underlying health conditions.