Florida becomes second state to top 500,000 COVID-19 cases

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Florida reported another 5,409 COVID-19 cases Wednesday, pushing the state over half a million confirmed infections.

That makes Florida second only to California among states with people diagnosed with the disease.

Florida now has 502,739 cases, while California health officials on Tuesday listed almost 520,000 cases.

The number of reported test results in Florida was under 61,000 for the third straight day, likely a result of numerous test sites closed due to Tropical Storm Isaias.

A total of 57,272 results were recorded on Tuesday, compared to 88,244 a week earlier on July 28.

All test locations have since reopened, but the closures appear to account for a recent drop in cases.

Since the 9,642 cases reported on Saturday, the new daily case totals have been 7,104, 4,752, 5,446 and now Wednesday’s tally.

The test results reported on a single day typically reflect tests taken over several days.

Also Wednesday, Florida reported another 225 coronavirus fatalities. At least 7,751 people have died from COVID-19 complications since the start of the pandemic.

The latest daily total is not reflective of deaths in the past 24 hours, but rather recent weeks. The most deaths on a daily report — 257 last Friday.

SOUTH FLORIDA

South Florida, which accounts for 29% of Florida’s population, reported 1,945 new cases in the past day, or 36% of the daily total for the state.

Broward County: 401 new coronavirus cases were reported Wednesday, bringing the total to 59,354. A total of 802 people have died, 18 more than reported Tuesday.

Palm Beach County: 354 new cases, bringing the total to 35,283. A total of 897 people have died, 21 more than reported on Tuesday.

Miami-Dade County: 1,190 new cases, bringing the total to 125,949. A total of 1,791 people have died. That’s 51 more than reported Tuesday.

TESTING AND POSITIVITY RATE

A total of 3.82 million people have been swabbed in Florida since the pandemic began, producing a positivity rate of 13.2%. The state reports that almost 3.29 million people have tested negative. At the end of May, Florida’s positivity rate was about 5.6%.

Florida on Wednesday reported a 10.9% positivity rate for tests statewide in the previous 24-hour period. That’s the same as the day before, but still an improvement compared to the first week of July when the state had a 15% positivity rate on most days.

Public health experts say the positivity rate is an important figure, since it indicates the prevalence of the disease in the state’s population. The World Health Organization has advised governments that before reopening, the rate should remain at 5% or lower for at least 14 days.

Citing concerns about private labs not reporting negative test results, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday said a better indication about the spread of the disease is tracking visits to hospital emergency departments by people with COVID-19 symptoms. Those visits peaked at 15,900 as of the week of July 5, with visits down to 6,937 for the week of July 26.

“If you go back, I can probably find you examples of me in May talking about positivity is really important,” DeSantis said in remarks published at FloridaPolitics.com. “I’m not saying it’s not something you would never consider ever, but I think we’ve understood some of the limitations.”

In South Florida the positivity rates in the previous day were 8.9% for Broward, down from Tuesday’s 10.5%; 15.5% for Miami-Dade, up from 13.7%; and 9.9% for Palm Beach County, which is down by one-tenth of a percentage point.

The number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 decreased statewide Wednesday. There were 7,621 patients at 11:46 a.m., according to the Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration. About 24 hours earlier, the same report listed 7,836 patients.

The number of people in hospitals for COVID-19 has been declining. The total hospitalized for the disease two weeks ago was nearly 9,500.

Miami-Dade County has the most people hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of the new coronavirus: 1,664 patients, a decrease of 52 since Tuesday. Next is Broward with 1,072, a decrease of 31. Palm Beach County has 473, a decrease of 15.

Since the start of the pandemic, a total of 28,573 have been hospitalized, according to the state health department. That’s an increase of 13,748 patients since July 1, when the total stood at 14,825.

Health experts say people older than 65 are most vulnerable to hospitalization and death, along with people who have underlying health issues, including weakened immune systems, diabetes or obesity.

DEATHS

Statewide: The official COVID-19 death total for Florida reached 7,751 on Wednesday. That figure includes 124 people who were not residents. The three South Florida counties account for 3,490 deaths, or 45% of the state total.

Seniors: At least 3,242 deaths have occurred among residents and staff of nursing homes and long-term care facilities, a figure that represents 42.5% of the state total for coronavirus deaths of residents.

Miami-Dade County has the highest number of long-term care facility deaths, with 619, or 19.1% of the total. Palm Beach County had 361 deaths, or 11.1%, and Broward accounted for 223 deaths, or 6.9%.

Nationwide: Florida has reported an average of about 185 deaths per day, or 1,295 total over the past seven days. Florida’s death rate ranks 19th in the United States, with compared with other states and the District of Columbia, with 34 deaths per 100,000 people, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s COVID Data Tracker.

New York City has the highest death rate with 280 deaths per 100,000, followed by New Jersey, with 178. California and Texas have had 24 deaths per 100,000. California and Texas are the most populous states, followed by Florida and New York.

GLOBAL VIEW

U.S.: The coronavirus death toll in the United States reached 157,659 as of 12:30 p.m. EDT Wednesday, according to the Coronavirus Resource Center at Johns Hopkins University.

The United States has reported almost 4.8 million cases, the highest total in the world.

Worldwide: The global total surpassed 18.6 million cases Wednesday, with at least 702,045 deaths, Johns Hopkins reported.

The U.S. has 4.3% of the world’s population, but 25.7% of the world’s cases and 22.4% of the world’s deaths.

———

©2020 Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)

Visit the Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) at www.sun-sentinel.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.