DeSantis Blames Testing; FL Reports 11,466 More Coronavirus Cases

APOPKA, FL — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday blamed the state's soaring coronavirus case numbers on increased testing and said New York and New Jersey probably would have reported four to five times as many daily cases had they done the same amount of tests during their peek periods of the outbreak.

"I think, the fact that we’re testing so much has led to case numbers that have been put out there, and I think kind of unfairly maligning the state," DeSantis told reporters at a news conference in Orange County saying Florida was averaging about 100,000 tests per day.

"If some of those states like New York and New Jersey were testing 100,000 a day at their height, they would have had 40,000 or 50,000 cases a day," he said. "I think it’s important to put that in perspective."

The governor's remarks came as Florida health officials reported a total of 327,241 coronavirus cases in the state, which represents an increase of 11,466 new cases of the virus over the previous 24-hour period. That's up from 315,775 cases a day earlier.

The increasing number of cases has put a strain on Florida hospitals, forcing some facilities to postpone elective surgeries and bring in contract medical personnel to meet staffing challenges.

"We have 21 percent of the beds statewide are available," DeSantis said. "Typically, hospitals run at 88 or 90 percent. That's how they stay in business."

Florida's death toll rose to 4,805 one day after the state set a new single-day record of 157 new reported deaths. State officials also reported another 107 non-Florida residents who died in the state.

Twenty-six Florida counties reported 128 new deaths Friday. That compares with 157 new deaths on Thursday, 113 new deaths Wednesday, 132 new deaths on Tuesday, 35 new deaths on Monday, 45 new deaths Sunday, 94 new deaths Saturday (health officials reported 95) and 117 new deaths last Friday (health officials reported 93).

Miami-Dade County reported 24 new deaths. Palm Beach County reported 21 new deaths. Neighboring Broward County reported 13 new deaths, the first deaths since July 12.

Lee County reported 26 new deaths. St. Lucie County reported six new deaths. Pinellas County reported five new deaths. Collier County reported four new deaths as did Duval County. Polk County reported three new deaths.

Brevard County reported two new deaths as did Highlands County, Indian River County, Lake County and Seminole County.

Hillsborough County reported one new death as did Jackson County, Levy County, Marion County, Martin County, Orange County, Osceola County, Putnam County, Santa Rosa County, St. Johns County, Taylor County and Walton County.

DeSantis announced that the Florida Housing Finance Corporation unanimously approved the release of $75 million to local governments to assist Floridians in need of rental and mortgage assistance as a result of the pandemic. The $75 million marks the first release of the funding to local governments. Click here to see your city and county allocation.

"Through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act Gov. DeSantis made available $250 million, of which $120 million will be sent to local governments to provide rental and mortgage assistance program," state officials said.

Florida reported a 5.7 percent positive test rate for the virus Friday as the number of tests administered in the state reached 2,884,245. The percentage of positives had been at 11.2 a day earlier though it was not immediately clear what caused such a large change.

State officials did acknowledge this week that an undisclosed number of private medical testing laboratories in recent days failed to report negative coronavirus test results, which may have skewed some of Florida's coronavirus data.

DeSantis said Friday the state has severed ties with one private laboratory that has been taking too long with its test results.

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Health officials reported 20,191 hospitalizations, up from 19,825 over the previous 24-hour period. That represents an increase of 366 more hospitalizations than reported a day earlier.

Miami-Dade, which includes Miami and Miami Beach, reported 77,867 cases of the virus Friday. Nearby Broward County, which includes Fort Lauderdale, reported 36,913 cases. Palm Beach County, which includes Palm Beach and West Palm, reported 24,361 cases.

Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa, reported 22,502 cases. Orange County, which includes Orlando, reported 22,049 cases.

In an effort to provide as much information to our readers as possible, Patch is publishing the following county-by-county breakdown of the coronavirus cases in Florida's 67 counties, along with the median age of patients, the number of hospital cases by county and the number of deaths.

Related:

• Some Labs Failed To Report Negative Coronavirus Results: DeSantis

• HCA Joins BayCare In Suspending Non-Urgent Surgeries

• Virus Fears Prompt New Restrictions At Republican Convention

• Florida Governor Behaved Like 'Spoiled Kid' Says Hialeah Mayor

• Governor Promises 'Guns Blazing' Response To Covonavirus Surge

• Brandon Coronavirus Testing Site Increases Appointments

• Medical Expert Calls Miami New World Epicenter; 12,624 More Cases

• Florida Bars Won't Reopen, But Schools Will; Cases Top 250,000

• More Residents Refusing To Participate In Contact Tracing

• Pinellas Releases Draft Back-To-School Plan, Mandates Masks

Patch updates this chart once each day based on data provided by the Florida Department of Health. The counties that reported new deaths on Friday are shown in bold.

Here is the most recent data:

This article originally appeared on the Bradenton Patch