Florida’s cases hit almost 35,000, and death toll reaches 1,314
Florida’s Department of Health on Friday morning confirmed 1,038 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the state total of confirmed cases closer to 35,000. The state has a total of 34,728 confirmed cases.
Friday’s daily total of newly confirmed cases is the highest reported in the past two weeks, breaking a weeklong trend of daily totals fewer than 1,000.
There were also 46 new deaths announced, bringing the statewide death toll to 1,314. Of those deaths, 25 were in South Florida.
Six people died in MiamiDade, bringing the county’s death toll to 358, the highest in the state. Fourteen people died in Broward, raising the county’s death toll to 199. Palm Beach County reported five new deaths, bringing the county’s count to 191. Three people have died in the Keys.
The number of deaths being reported by the state Department of Health may be incomplete. The list of coronavirus deaths being compiled by Florida’s medical examiners has shown the death count was up to 10 percent higher than what the Florida Department of Health has released.
The list had previously been released in real time by the state Medical Examiners Commission, which normally releases death counts during events like hurricanes that lead to deaths.
STATE REOPENING PLAN VARIES BY COUNTY
Of the statewide total of COVID-19 confirmed cases, 33,829 are Florida residents and 899 are nonresidents who were diagnosed or isolated in the state.
Despite the daily reports of new cases and deaths, local and state officials have previously said that the decreases in the daily total of reported cases are signs that the statewide social distancing measures are working and on Monday, restaurants and shops will be allowed to reopen with limited capacity.
This first phase of Florida’s reopening plan does not currently include Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County, where the pandemic has hit the hardest.
The three counties make up more than half of the known COVID-19 cases and deaths in the state, with Miami-Dade topping the state with the most known cases and deaths.
The only county in South Florida allowed to reopen is Monroe, but visitors still won’t be allowed in.
CONFIRMED COVID-19 CASES IN S. FLORIDA
As of Friday morning, here’s what Florida’s Department of Health data shows: saw 326 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19, raising the county total to 12,389. Those who have fallen ill range from the age of 0 to 105. (A person who is listed as age zero means they are less than 1.) The county has had 1,589 hospitalizations and 358 deaths, Florida’s highest death toll.
reported 191 additional confirmed cases of the disease, raising the county total of confirmed cases to 5,144. Those who have fallen ill range from the age of 0 to 102. The county has had 199 deaths and 1,019 hospitalizations. had 78 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19, raising the county total to 3,041 Those who have fallen ill range from the age of 0 to 104. The county has had 454 hospitalizations and 191 deaths.
did not report any additional confirmed cases of the disease. The county has a total of 79 known cases. Those who have fallen ill range from the age of 6 to 80. The Florida Keys has had three deaths and 11 hospitalizations.
COVID-19 HOSPITALIZATIONS
Health officials say the state has had 5,767 hospitalizations relating to COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
But the statewide and county-level data for COVID-19
hospitalizations includes anyone who was hospitalized during their illness and “does not reflect the number of people currently hospitalized,” according to the Department of Health.
The state says it does not “have a figure” to reflect current hospitalization data. Hospitals in MiamiDade are self-reporting a number of key metrics, including hospitalizations, to the county. Some provide updates every day, others don’t.
Hospitalizations in Miami-Dade have leveled off at about 650 to 700 a day for the past two weeks. While officials haven’t seen a decline in hospitalizations for a prolonged period yet, they say the stabilization is a good sign.
This is because hospitalization admissions can be a valuable tool in determining the virus’ progress in the community and is one of the metrics Miami-Dade officials are using to determine the safety of loosening restrictions.
Unlike testing, which might be limited or take days to report results, hospitalizations can help give officials a real-time visual of how many people are severely ill with COVID-19.
But because scientists are still working to learn more about the virus, including how many people in the community are actually infected with the disease and have mild or no symptoms, it’s difficult to determine what percentage of the cases hospitalizations represent.
COVID-19 TESTING IN FLORIDA
Testing in Florida has seen a steady growth since the COVID-19 crisis began, but less than 2% of the population has been tested for the disease, according to a Miami Herald analysis.
Testing, like hospitalizations, helps officials determine the virus’ progress and plays a role in deciding whether it is safe to lift stay-at-home orders and loosen restrictions.
And based on the Miami Herald’s analysis, the state is far short of the amount of tests experts recommend is needed to safely reopen restaurants, movie theaters and other businesses. The recommended numbers of daily tests needed varies by experts, but the dean of the University of South Florida’s College of Medicine told Gov. Ron DeSantis last week that Florida needs to test about 33,000 people every day, more than double the current rate.
On Thursday, the state recorded 15,531 new tests, continuing a trend of a steady decline in daily testing since Florida saw its highest day of testing on Sunday with 25,563 new tests.
It’s unclear if the decline in test results is because there are fewer people requesting tests or because they can’t access them.
South Florida, for example, has a few testing sites that allow anyone to be tested but most have tighter restrictions on who is eligible for testing. Many are also drive-thru only, which limits people who do not own cars.
In recent weeks, city and county governments have expanded testing options to give homebound residents and those without cars the ability to be tested. DeSantis also announced last week that he would allow pharmacists to administer the tests if they chose to offer the service.
As of Thursday, the state said it has conducted a total of 382,966 tests statewide. Of those, 33,690, or 8.80 percent, came back positive. The state said 1,187 tests were still pending results. Information about Friday’s testing numbers was not immediately available.
Health experts told the Miami Herald earlier this month they were concerned the number of pending COVID-19 tests listed by the state is an undercount because Florida reports only the number of Floridians waiting to get test results from state labs, not private ones — and private labs are completing more than 90% of state tests.
Previously, it has taken as long as two weeks for the results of pending tests from private labs to be added into the state’s official count, making it difficult for officials to project the size and scale of the pandemic in the state. It’s unclear how quickly results are currently being sent to the state from private labs.