Staff Reports
Health officials identified three new positive cases of the new coronavirus disease in Florida Wednesday evening.
Three males — one each in St. Johns, Miami-Dade and Broward counties — have been isolated and will continue to remain isolated until cleared by public health officials, according to the Department of Health.
Two of the cases are not tied to international travel. One individual attended the Daytona Bike Week and another attended an emergency medical services conference in Tampa.
DOH has recommended people who attended either of the events immediately contact their county departments of health or health care provider and self-isolate for 14 days.
The St. Johns case is a 63-year-old New York resident. A 70-year-old in Broward County has also tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.
The 56-year-old who tested positive in Miami-Dade County is that county’s first positive test. Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Giménez declared a state of emergency over the virus’s spread.
The death rate for those who test positive for the virus has vacillated between 2% and 3.5%. However, those calculations do not include individuals who may have contracted the virus, but are asymptomatic and thus survive without incident. Including those individuals would lower the death rate, but it’s unclear how many such individuals there are worldwide.
Most who do show symptoms develop a fever or cough and may have trouble breathing, though they do recover. However, older individuals and those with underlying health risks are susceptible to developing more severe symptoms.
Overall, 26 people have now been diagnosed with the coronavirus in Florida. Three of those cases are nonresidents.
Another five Floridians have been returned to the U.S. after testing positive overseas.
The announcements come the same evening the National Basketball Association decided to suspend its season after one of its players — Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz — tested positive for the virus.
Actors Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson have also tested positive. Wednesday afternoon, the World Health Organization declared the new coronavirus is now a pandemic.
