Florida coronavirus cases top 50,000 as death toll hits 2,232
Florida’s Department of Health on Saturday morning confirmed 676 additional cases of COVID-19, pushing the state total of known cases over 50,000. The state now has a total of 50,127 confirmed cases.
There were also 42 new deaths announced, raising the statewide death toll to 2,232.
One death that is yet to be included in the tally: Noted South Florida cardiologist and philanthropist Dr. Eugene Sayfie.
Sayfie died of the coronavirus Saturday morning at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, said his daughter Stephanie Sayfie-Aagaard. He was still practicing medicine until he got sick. “Dad was taking care of everybody,” she said.
HOW MANY CONFIRMED COVID-19 CASES ARE IN SOUTH FLORIDA?
At 315, less than half of the state’s new cases and new deaths were in South Florida:
▪ Miami-Dade County reported 172 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 15 new deaths. The county’s confirmed total is now at 16,694 with 629 deaths, the highest in the state. The median age of cases is 49.
▪ Broward County reported 69 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and six new deaths. The county’s confirmed total is now at 6,649 with 292 deaths. The median age of cases is 50.
▪ Palm Beach County saw 68 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and four new deaths. The county’s known total is now at 5,140 with 315 deaths. The median age of cases is 50
▪ Monroe County confirmed six new cases of the disease and no new deaths. The Florida Keys now have 107 known cases and three deaths. The median age is 55, an increase of one year from Friday.
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. Miami-Dade continues to lead the state with the most confirmed cases and deaths. It has 16,694 known cases and 629 deaths.
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.
On Saturday morning 193 hospitalizations were added, raising the statewide total count to 9,310.
Scientists are also 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, which can make it 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 and has 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 vary 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’s Department of Health reported 20,940 new tests in Saturday’s daily COVID-19 update — a drop from Friday’s 21,588.
In total, the state has done 858,112 tests. Of the total tested, 50,127 or 5.9% percent have tested positive for the disease. On Friday, the percentage was 5.91%
But health experts told the Miami Herald last 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’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.
This story was originally published May 23, 2020 at 11:42 AM with the headline "Florida coronavirus cases top 50,000 as death toll hits 2,232."
