Florida drops back below 1,000-case threshold after spike of 1,072 coronavirus cases
Florida dropped to less than 1,000 new confirmed coronavirus cases Friday after seeing a sudden return to early April trends on Thursday when health officials confirmed 1,072 new cases.
Since Thursday evening, the Florida Department of Health reported 885 new cases, bringing the state total to 30,533. The statewide death toll has jumped past 1,000, with 59 new deaths announced. The total is now 1,046. The number of new deaths nearly match the past two days, when 60 more deaths were reported each day.
South Florida remains at the epicenter of Florida’s cases. As of Friday evening, the four counties in South Florida — Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe — had 18,194 of the state’s cases, which total more than half. Miami-Dade had the majority of the cases in South Florida at 10,926.
The accuracy of the state’s reported confirmed cases may come into question after University of Miami researchers released a preliminary study on Friday that said about 6% of Miami-Dade’s population, about 165,000 residents, have antibodies indicating a past infection by the coronavirus.
Friday saw a return to the five-day trend of fewer reported cases earlier this week. On April 17 — seven days ago — 1,413 new cases were reported in a single day, the highest since the pandemic began. On the following days, new reported cases did not break the 1,000 threshold — until Thursday.
Of the 59 new deaths, 32 are from South Florida. Miami-Dade had 17 new deaths, Broward reported five and Palm Beach had 10. Information on the newest deaths has not yet been released by health officials. Here is information from Friday morning’s report:
▪ Nine people died in Miami-Dade County, raising the death toll to 279. Miami-Dade continues to have the highest death toll in the state.
▪ A 62-year-old man died in Broward County, bringing the county’s death count to 158.
▪ A 75-year-old man, an 83-year-old woman, a 90-year-old man and two 89-year-old women also died in Palm Beach County, bringing the county’s death toll up to 149.
Of the total statewide cases, 29,707 are Florida residents and 826 non-residents.
Health officials say the state has had 4,817 hospitalizations relating to COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
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.
Despite the daily reports of additional confirmed cases and deaths, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced earlier this week that the state’s coronavirus curve had flattened.
But health experts are concerned the statewide total of confirmed cases is significantly undercounted because Florida reports only the number of Floridians waiting to hear test results from state labs, not private ones — and private labs are completing more than 90% of state tests.
The results of thousands of pending tests from private labs have taken as long as two weeks to be added to the state’s official count. The state’s website does not say its figures exclude the vast majority of pending tests for the novel coronavirus.
The Re-Open Florida Task Force, which had it its first meeting Monday on how the state can reopen, was also originally expected to have a list of re-opening recommendations ready for DeSantis by Friday. But on Thursday, DeSantis’ chief of staff Shane Strum told task force members they would be finishing the recommendations “early next week.”
It was the same day the state reported over 1,000 new confirmed cases, going back to the trend lines of early April.
The apparent deadline extension was also announced a day after the task force — mainly composed of lawmakers and executives from large corporations — said it needed advice from doctors on what safety measures reopened businesses would have to follow.
Counties and cities across the state have already begun to reopen beaches with limited access in an attempt to return life to normalcy. In Miami-Dade, the plan so far is to allow parks, marinas and golf courses to reopen in the near future but not beaches.
COVID-19 confirmed cases in South Florida
As of Friday evening, here’s what Florida’s Department of Health data showed:
Miami-Dade County had 225 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19, raising the county total to 10,926 confirmed cases. Of those, 10,793 are residents, 132 are non-residents and one is a resident who is not in Florida. Those who have fallen ill range from 0 to 105. (A person who is listed as age zero means they are less than 1.) The county has had 1,257 hospitalizations and 287 deaths.
Broward County reported 21 additional confirmed cases, raising the county total of confirmed cases to 4,570. Health officials say 4,467 are residents and 124 are non-residents. Those who have fallen ill range from 0 to 102. The county has had 868 hospitalizations and 162 deaths.
Palm Beach County had 14 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19, raising the county total to 2,600. Health officials say 2,540 are residents, 58 are non-residents and two are residents who are not in Florida. Those who have fallen ill range from 0 to 104. The county has had 399 hospitalizations and 155 deaths.
Monroe County reported one additional confirmed case of the disease. The county has 77 known cases of COVID-19. Only eight of them are non-residents. Those who have fallen ill range from age 6 to 80. The Florida Keys have had three deaths and 12 hospitalizations.
This story was originally published April 24, 2020 at 11:18 AM.
