Janelle Irwin Taylor
Hillsborough County is up 19 cases overnight after the Florida Department of Health released its morning update of new coronavirus cases. Pinellas County’s tally grew by 15.
Hillsborough is up to 291 reported cases including 282 residents, up from 272 Monday evening.
Pinellas tally jumped from 129 to 144 overnight, with no new deaths reported.
Hillsborough’s third death was a 92-year old female, according to DOH.
Tampa and St. Petersburg lead their respective counties with 200 of Hillsborough’s cases located in the county’s largest city. Tampa has the seventh highest number of reported case among cities, preceded by Miami with 1,047 cases, Hollywood with 405, Fort Lauderdale with 295, Orlando with 262, Miami Beach with 236 and Hialeah with 221.
Orlando is the only non-South Florida city with more reported cases than Tampa. Only two other non-South Florida cities are in the Top 10 — Jacksonville with 177 cases and Naples with 115.
Only one area in Hillsborough County exceeds 20 cases — Riverview with 21.
That’s followed by neighboring Brando with 15 cases. All other Hillsborough towns and cities have fewer than 10 cases each.
St. Pete accounts for 31 of Pinellas County’s total cases. Clearwater and Largo trail with 26 and 25 cases, respectively. All other areas in Pinellas have fewer than 10 cases each.
While Pinellas County trails Hillsborough in the number of reported cases, it leads in the number of deaths with five deaths compared to Hillsborough’s three.
Pinellas has also lacked access to robust testing capabilities, suggesting the outbreak might be more prevalent there than numbers show. The county has tested just 2,730 individuals compared to Hillsborough’s 4,537. Pinellas has conducted about half the number of tests as Hillsborough, but has more than half the number of cases.
In Hillsborough, 51 people who tested positive have been hospitalized while 45 have been hospitalized in Pinellas, indicating individuals with the COVID-19 disease in Pinellas County are experiencing more serious symptoms than those in Hillsborough.
That could be because Pinellas County’s outbreak is affecting more elderly individuals. Hillsborough County’s largest affected age demographic are 25-34 year olds with 61 reported cases. Only 40 people 65 and older have been diagnosed.
Meanwhile, 42 people 65 and older have been diagnosed with the largest age group affected being those 55 to and 64 with 31 cases.
The youngest reported case in Hillsborough County is an infant less than a year old with the oldest affected individual being 93. The youngest person affected in Pinellas is 18 with the oldest being 83.
