South Florida adds 472 coronavirus cases and 21 deaths as state death toll nears 2,000
Florida’s Department of Health on Friday confirmed 673 additional cases of COVID-19, pushing the state’s total of confirmed cases to 44,811. There were also 47 new deaths announced, raising the statewide death toll to 1,964.
HOW MANY CONFIRMED COVID-19 CASES ARE IN SOUTH FLORIDA?
More than half of the new cases and just under half of the latest deaths were in South Florida:
▪ Miami-Dade County reported 355 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 11 new deaths. The county’s known total is now at 15,366 with 559 deaths, the highest in the state. The median age of positive cases is 49.
▪ Broward County reported 68 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and six new deaths. The county’s confirmed total is now at 6,201 with 278 deaths. The median age of positive cases is 50.
▪ Palm Beach County saw 49 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and four new deaths. The county’s known total is now at 4,440. The death toll is at 275. The median age of positive cases is 52.
▪ Monroe County did not report any additional cases or deaths. The Florida Keys have 95 known cases and three deaths. The median age is 53. The Keys is still closed to tourists but has opened some businesses to residents with social distancing rules in place.
Here’s a breakdown on what you need to know:
CONFIRMED COVID-19 CASES IN FLORIDA
More than half of the state’s known COVID-19 cases are in South Florida’s four counties: Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe. These figures on Saturday represent 26,102 known cases out of the state’s 44,811. Miami-Dade continues to lead the state with the most confirmed cases and deaths. It has 15,366 known cases and 559 deaths.
Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and the Florida Keys’ combined death toll of 1,115 accounts for more than half of the state’s 1,964 confirmed deaths.
Of the total 44,811 confirmed cases, 1,204 were non-Florida residents, according to Florida’s department of health.
Despite the daily reports of new cases and deaths, local and state officials have previously said that decreases in the daily total of reported cases are signs that social-distancing measures are working.
Officials are also relying on hospitalization data. 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.
The health department says it doesn’t “have a figure” to reflect the number of people currently hospitalized and only provides the total number of hospitalizations in its statewide and county-level data. But hospitals in Miami-Dade are self-reporting a number of key metrics, including hospitalizations, to the county. Some provide updates every day and others don’t.
The state saw 187 more hospitalizations since Friday morning, bringing the state’s hospitalization total to 8,146.
And 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.
Florida governor approves request to reopen
Select businesses across Miami-Dade and Broward County will have a limited reopening Monday, with restaurants in many areas once again allowed to offer dine-in-services. All businesses will have new regulations in place, including social distancing era rules both customers and employees will have to follow until life eventually returns to a “new normal.”
Anyone going back to work on Monday will have to wear a mask, and businesses must test all staff and hire deep cleaners if even one employee tests positive for the novel coronavirus, according to rules released by Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced his approval of the Miami-Dade and Broward’s reopening plans during a Thursday news conference in Doral. The two South Florida counties were the last in the state to be approved to begin the reopening process.
COVID-19 TESTING IN FLORIDA
Testing in Florida has seen a steady growth since the COVID-19 crisis began and had begun to see a steady decline in the percentage of people testing positive.
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.
The recommended numbers of daily tests needed varies by experts, but the dean of the University of South Florida’s College of Medicine told the governor Florida needs to test about 33,000 people every day.
Florida reached the recommended mark for the first time on May 2 and has since seen its daily testing numbers either surpass or be below the mark by several thousand.
On the Saturday report, the daily total of new tests was only up by 900 — from 629,895 tested to 630,795. But this is likely because the wet weather, and the warnings of flash floods related to a disturbance off the Florida Keys’ coast, led officials to close 14 state-run COVID-19 test sites Friday. The sites are expected to reopen Monday as the storm heads into the Atlantic away from Florida’s coastline.
Of the 630,795 tests that were given by Saturday morning, 44,811 were positive, or 7.1% — a slight increase from 7%.
But health experts told the Miami Herald in April 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’s 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.
This story was originally published May 16, 2020 at 12:12 PM.
