Staff Reports
The Department of Health reports 13,324 cases of coronavirus in Florida, including 236 deaths. There are now 1,592 hospitalizations in Florida as a result of the global pandemic.
That’s an increase of 974 cases overnight, with 15 more deaths tallied by the state.
The total cases include 12,925 Florida residents, with the rest non-residents who tested positive here.
The state reported 12,350 confirmed cases as of Sunday 5 p.m. tally. At that time, Florida reported 221 deaths, and 1,555 remained hospitalized.
Of course, the state continues to test far more people than turn out to be positive. 109,950 have thus far tested negative for the virus in Florida. But another 1,142 await results.
Those who have tested positive include 1,117 who recently traveled, but for the bulk of patient travel status remains unknown.
At this point, 79% of all deaths in the state of Florida have been patients over the age of 65.
The bulk of cases remain in three counties — Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach. Of note, Miami is home to 2,676 cases, while Miami-Dade County has 4,481 vases in total.
But Palm Beach now leads in total deaths, with 49 of the 236 Floridians lost to COVID-19 residents of the single county.
Meanwhile, Florida officials have broadcast optimism about state preparation for a rise in stress on the health care industry. Division of Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz said the state will have the ventilators and beds to meet the anticipated need.
“We are gathering up those resources and pre-positioning them, just like we do in a hurricane, and putting them where potentially they’re going to be needed,” Moskowitz said. “And if we do need them, we’ll surge them into those hospitals.”
While the stockpile of hospital beds is enough to cover the projected need, the state is more than 800 short of the 2,500 ICU beds called for by projections. But Moskowitz said the state will have enough for the anticipated May 3 peak.
At the same time some in Florida are in fact getting through the worst of the scare. U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, the first member of Congress to test positive for the virus, announced on Sunday his doctors deemed him virus-free and cleared him to return to his family.
He’s now donating plasma and encouraging others to do the same. Those plasma donations are valuable due to antibodies built up by those infected with the virus. Doctors hope that transferring plasma from recovered coronavirus patients — which contains those antibodies — into those still reeling from the virus can help the infected recover.
Meanwhile, a new poll from the University of North Florida Public Opinion Research Lab offers mixed reviews for state and national elected officials but strong support for local leaders.
That takes place as a state unemployment system crashes under unprecedented stress and a record number of unemployment applications, and as Gov. Ron DeSantis’s stay-at-home order went into effect the same day cases surpassed 10,000.
