Staff Reports
State health officials reported an additional 19 deaths from the novel coronavirus overnight as a Thursday morning report showed 378 new cases statewide.
The state’s death toll is now 633 while 22,897 people, including 662 nonresidents, have tested positive COVID-19. Additionally, 56 more Floridians, now 3,305, have been hospitalized with the disease.
Although at least one influential model shows the state’s coronavirus peak is still to come, though daily reported cases have been in decline since 1,307 tested positive on April 3. Since then, no more than 1,189 people have tested positive in Florida in a day, including 605 on Tuesday.
Tested numbers have also declined, though the ratio of positive to negative results has remained consistent. Emergency rooms have also reported a decrease in cough-related admissions.
About three-fifths of the Florida cases are in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties as South Florida remains the disease’s hot spot in the state.
Miami-Dade County has 8,131 cases after officials confirmed 68 cases there Thursday morning. It also leads the state with 163 deaths, an increase of eight overnight.
Broward is the latest county to pass 100 deaths, rising to 101 from 94 Wednesday night. Palm Beach County now has 110, up three.
Broward has 3,459 cases, an increase of 96, while Palm Beach has 1,841, 25 of them new.
The state has received results for 219,567 tests, enough for more than 1% of Floridians, a milestone Gov. Ron DeSantis has been aiming for. Results are pending for 1,325 tests from department-coordinated labs, as are results for likely thousands more from private labs.
With signs indicating a slowing spread, the Governor announced this week that he will set up a task force to outline the second phase state’s coronavirus response — reopening society and the economy.
