New coronavirus case found in Miami-Dade. 15 more across state, including 5 in Broward
State officials announced another COVID-19 case in Miami-Dade in the early hours Friday, shortly after announcing 15 other new Florida cases of the highly contagious respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus, and raising the state’s total to 46.
Six of the 16 new cases are “unclear” as to whether they are travel related, raising questions about how the flu-like virus is spreading in Florida. This is the second case to be found in Miami-Dade.
The first case in the county — a 56-year-old man who had recently traveled — was announced late Wednesday.
The newly announced cases make up the largest group of patients reported positive at the same time since the first cases in Florida were announced March 1. It is the second night in a row the state has announced a bevy of new cases, after confirming eight of them Wednesday night.
One of the cases is a 42-year-old man from Miami-Dade County who was exposed to someone who had traveled internationally.
The 11 cases so far in Broward, many but not all tied to Port Everglades, make it the largest cluster of the highly contagious disease in the state. Of the five new Broward cases announced, one was a 28-year-old woman who had no stated travel history or connection to the bustling port, which has become a hot spot for the novel coronavirus.
The other Broward cases included a 25-year-old woman who is considered a “travel-related case,” a 20-year-old woman from Texas who is in Broward County and recently traveled to Europe, a 68-year-old woman whose case is associated with Port Everglades, and a 36-year old man whose case is considered “travel-related.”
The two cases in Palm Beach County were a 73-year-old man who had gone on a Nile River cruise tour in Egypt and a 74-year-old man who had recently traveled to Europe.
Several of the cases announced on Thursday night had no stated connection to travel, including a 50-year-old New York man in Sarasota County, a 70-year-old Massachusetts man in Sarasota County, an 83-year-old Duval County man, a 57-year-old Clay County man and a 77-year-old Lee County man.
The state also discovered three other travel-related cases: a 24-year-old woman in Alachua County, a 70-year-old man in Volusia County, and a 49-year-old woman in Hillsborough County.
Later Thursday night, the town of Bay Harbor Islands announced that a town employee had tested positive for COVID-19.
The sharp rise in cases indicated some progress made on testing, though the results have been slow going since the virus was first discovered in the Sunshine State.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, in Miami at Jackson Memorial Hospital on Thursday, said that help with testing capacity was on the way, but added a word of caution about potential supply shortages.
Shortly after he spoke, the president of the nurse and doctors union at the hospital said her front line health care workers at the hospital network’s emergency rooms were “begging” state officials to allow them to conduct more tests, but had to jump through bureaucratic hoops to get approval. Carlos Migoya, the Jackson CEO, directed all testing questions to the health department.
Thursday was a turning point for Florida, where major events were canceled, cities declared emergencies and high-ranking officials self-quarantined, fearing exposure to the novel coronavirus.
At his Miami appearance, DeSantis urged the cancellation of large events statewide.
When the day began, large-scale events like the county Youth Fair, the Jazz in the Gardens music festival and the Miami Open tennis tournament were all still expected to take place, but that changed as the day progressed. All concerts at AmericanAirlines Arena were canceled — where the remainder of the Miami Heat season was already in jeopardy after the NBA suspended the season.
Miami Dade College canceled classes for two weeks, then will transition to online learning, a step many colleges and universities are taking. All events have been canceled college-wide.
Organizers of small gatherings were taking precautions, too. Sunny Isles Beach suspended “all public gatherings” Thursday. North Miami officials said the city’s public library would shut down Friday until further notice. And North Bay Village canceled “all non-essential village events” for the next 30 days.
Miami Herald staff writer Aaron Leibowitz contributed to this report.
This story was originally published March 12, 2020 at 11:11 PM.
