A high week for Florida’s positive COVID-19 test rates ends with cases passing 56,000
A week in which COVID-19 cases showed in increase in daily gross numbers, positive test percentage and percentage of cases from outside South Florida ended with 739 new confirmed cases in Florida and four new deaths.
None of the deaths and only 328 (44.4%) of the new cases came from Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties.
Statewide, there have been 56,163 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 2,451 deaths from the virus.
After averaging a daily 4.37% positive test rate for the novel coronavirus from May 17 through May 23, Florida averaged a 5.48% daily hit rate from May 24 through May 30. Taking out the low and high anomalies — 1.35% on May 19 and 8.32% Friday — would still show a slight week-to-week increase in percentage, 4.87 to 5.00.
In South Florida:
▪ Miami-Dade County added 174 COVID-19 cases, a confirmed 18,000 cases since the pandemic began and 700 deaths, both state highs.
▪ Another 67 cases in Broward County put that county at 7,123 confirmed novel coronavirus cases. The number of deaths remained at 313.
▪ Palm Beach County saw an increase of 98 cases, putting it at 5,996 cases with 337 deaths.
▪ For the second consecutive day, Monroe County reported no new confirmed cases of COVID-19 nor any new deaths. The county with the Florida Keys has 108 known cases and four deaths.
Sunday, another 77 hospitalizations were added, raising the statewide total count to 10,190. Hospitals in Miami-Dade are self-reporting a number of key metrics, including hospitalizations, to the county. Some provide updates every day; others don’t.
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. The state has hit or surpassed the recommended mark a few times this month but is typically several thousand under.
Florida came in almost 3,000 short of that Sunday with another 30,063 tests reported.
This story was originally published May 31, 2020 at 2:33 PM.
