In three months of coronavirus crisis, Florida cases rise to 56,830 with 2,460 deaths
Florida’s Department of Health on Monday morning confirmed 667 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the total of known cases to 56,830 as the state enters the fourth month of the COVID-19 pandemic.
One of the newly confirmed cases in Monday’s report is in the Florida Keys, which has just reopened to tourists. There were also nine new deaths announced across the state, raising the statewide toll to 2,460.
Florida announced its first confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus on March 1, though data published by the health department later showed that COVID-19 likely began spreading throughout the state in January, if not earlier.
Monday’s daily total of newly confirmed cases is the lowest the state has seen since Wednesday, when 379 cases were confirmed.
How many confirmed COVID-19 cases are in South Florida?
More than half of the new cases and half of the new deaths were in South Florida:
▪ Miami-Dade County reported 139 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and two new deaths. The county’s confirmed total is now at 18,139 cases with 702 deaths, the highest in the state.
▪ Broward County reported 73 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and one new death. The county’s confirmed total is now at 7,196 with 314 deaths.
▪ Palm Beach County saw 139 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and no new deaths. The county’s known total is now at 6,135 with 337 deaths.
▪ Monroe County saw one additional confirmed case of COVID-19 and no new deaths. The Florida Keys now have 109 known cases and four deaths.
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 18,139 known cases and 702 deaths.
The state saw its largest daily increase in more than a month on Friday with 1,212 cases. Before Friday, April 17 saw the largest increase in cases at 1,413 cases. Since then, the state has only seen case increases larger than 1,000 in a single day three times.
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 Monday morning, 41 hospitalizations were added, raising the statewide total count to 10,231. 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.
As of Sunday, 41 people were discharged and 31 people were admitted to Miami-Dade hospitals, bringing the total number of hospitalizations for COVID-19 complications to 586, the lowest the county has seen in almost two weeks, according to Miami-Dade County’s “New Normal” dashboard data.
Scientists are also still working to learn more about the virus, including how many people in the community are 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 steady growth since the COVID-19 crisis began and has started 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. The state has hit or surpassed the recommended mark a few times this month but is typically several thousand under.
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 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.
This story was originally published June 1, 2020 at 12:11 PM.
