Staff Reports
Department of Health officials confirmed an additional 18 deaths due to the coronavirus Monday afternoon. That’s in addition to the 15 reported earlier in the day.
Now 13,629 cases of the virus are reported in Florida, up 1,279 from the night before. And 165 people were hospitalized throughout the day, raising the total number of hospitalized Floridians to 1,720.
With the 33 deaths Monday, 254 people have died from COVID-19.
The state’s total tally of cases includes 415 non-Floridians who have been tested and isolated in the state. The state does not include non-Floridians among its death toll or hospitalization count.
South Florida is still the hot spot for coronavirus cases in the state with Miami-Dade County leading the state with 4,671 cases, including 2,802 in Miami alone. Since Sunday, the county reported an additional 525 cases.
Broward County has 2,075 cases and Palm Beach County has 1,082, but leads the state with 51 fatalities.
About 82% of fatal cases have been in Floridians aged 65 or older. The elderly and people with underlying conditions, such as heart disease or diabetes, are the most at risk for severe COVID-19 cases.
The Orlando and Tampa Bay areas are also hot zones for the virus. Orange County now has 754, up from 713 the night before, and Hillsborough County has 575, up from 536.
Some major hospitals have five-minute coronavirus test machines ready for use. Gov. Ron DeSantis said those tests could be a game changer for hospitals inundated with confirmed or suspected coronavirus patients.
In past weeks, the state has had to fight to get testing materials, mainly sampling swabs, with most resources being diverted to Washington or New York. Now, the state has the results of 124,726 people, up from 115,704 the night before. An additional 1,322 are still awaiting their results.
On Sunday, for the second day in a row, the number of positive cases reported each day went down. But the state tested 42% fewer people that day compared to the day before. Saturday had slightly fewer positive results than Friday, despite the state receiving more test results.
Sunday is the latest day with complete results. Results returned after 5 p.m. Monday will appear in Tuesday’s morning report.
While officials first confirmed that the coronavirus was in Florida at the start of March, DeSantis has said he believes the virus was circulating in the community before then. He has shared anecdotes of people who believe they contracted the virus without ever being tested.
“This thing was in China in November. I don’t think it takes four months to get to the United States,” he said Monday. “We have flights every day. There were hundreds of thousands of people that came from China in December and January before the flights were shut off.”
While the state is not tracking how many of the confirmed cases have overcome the virus, in part because hospitals must volunteer that information, some Floridians have already recovered. U.S. Rep. Mario Díaz-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.
Below are the 33 deaths reported Monday, including those from the morning report:
Broward: 47 total
— 96-year-old female who had contact with a known case
— 82-year-old female
— 57-year-old male
— 93-year-old female
— 56-year-old male who had contact with a known case
— 66-year-old female
— 66-year-old female
Collier: 3 total
— 73-year-old male
DeSoto: 3 total
— 65-year-old male
Lee: 14 total
— 80-year-old female who had traveled to New Jersey and had contact with a known case
— 100-year-old male
Manatee: 5 total
— 69-year-old male
— 75-year-old female
Miami-Dade: 41 total
— 75-year-old male
— 49-year-old male
— 76-year-old male who had traveled to Spain
— 80-year-old male
— 66-year-old female
— 56-year-old male
— 58-year-old male
— 64-year-old male
— 42-year-old male who had contact with a known case
— 79-year-old male
Orange: 9 total
— 45-year-old female
Palm Beach: 51 total
— 82-year-old female
— 96-year-old female
Polk: 5 total
— 66-year-old female who had traveled to Georgia and had contact with a known case
St. Lucie: 5 total
— 77-year-old male who had traveled to the Dominican Republic and Turks and Caicos and had contact with a known case
— 74-year-old male
Sumter: 5 total
— 85-year-old male who had contact with a known case
— 83-year-old male
Volusia: 3 total
— 78-year-old female
