COVID-19 deaths in Florida surpass 2,000

More than 2,000 people across Florida have died from coronavirus-caused illness — with South Florida having the majority of the deaths, the state Department of Health reported Tuesday.

The official number is 2,052 — that is 55 more deaths listed over the past 24 hours.

Florida officials also reported Tuesday that the state has 46,944 cases of COVID-19, which is 502 more than on Monday.

Since the pandemic began, 8,494 people have been treated in Florida hospitals, the state reported, an increase of 190 over the last day.

South Florida has had more coronavirus fatalities than anywhere else in the state. Broward, MiamiDade and Palm Beach counties have had 1,144 deaths, which is 22 more than the day before.

State reports show the three counties accounted for 27,010 cases as of Tuesday, an increase of 356 over the previous 24 hours.

Tuesday’s Department of Health data shows the following breakdown:

Miami-Dade County, the Florida coronavirus hotspot, has had 15,942 cases, an increase of 78 from Monday. The number of Miami-Dade County deaths, 578, is 12 more than it was a day earlier. MiamiDade County, which has 13% of the state’s population, has 34% of the state’s cases and 28.2% of the deaths.

Broward has had 6,369 cases, 47 more than Monday. It has had 282 deaths, one more than the day before.

Palm Beach County has had 4,699 cases, 41 more than Monday. It has had 284 deaths, up nine from Monday.

Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties, home to 28.9% of Florida’s population, have had 56.2% of the state’s coronavirus deaths and 57.4% of the cases.

Testing

The state, which has a population of 21.5 million, reported Tuesday a total of 717,162 people have been swabbed for COVID-19 since testing began. Of those, 6.5% have tested positive.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday at a news conference in Orlando that the latest 24,000 test results showed about 700 new cases, which works out to 3.3 percent positive.

US, global view

The coronavirus death toll in the United States stood at 90,373 on Tuesday morning, including at least than 38,778 victims in the national hot spot of New

York and New Jersey. The country has 1.5 million cases.

The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University also reported more than 4.8 million cases worldwide. Almost 319,150 people have died.

The United States has 4.3% of the world’s population, 28.3% of the world’s deaths and 31.2% of the world’s cases.