Suzette Porter
The Florida Department of Health reported 520 cases of COVID-19 in Pinellas County Thursday morning — seven more than the number reported last night and 18 more than what DOH reported Wednesday morning.
The death toll remains at 14.
Statewide, the number of cases increased to 22,897 with 633 deaths. Cases in the United States totaled 640,291 with 31,002 deaths. Globally, more than 2 million cases have been reported with 139,419 deaths.
Coronavirus cases in Pinellas include 479 Florida residents and 41 nonresidents. Just over half were men, 51%, and 49% were women. Ages range from 1-98. The median age was 53.
DOH included race information for the first time Wednesday night. According to the report on Thursday morning, 78% of those testing positive for COVID-19 in Pinellas were white, 13% were black, 5% were other and 4% were unknown. According to the new report on ethnicity, 87% were non-Hispanic, 9% were Hispanic and 4% were unknown.
DOH reports that 104 have been hospitalized in Pinellas, which includes residents and nonresidents. Local hospitals reported nearly 39% available bed capacity on Thursday morning with 33% capacity for adult ICU beds.
“Hospitalizations is a count of all laboratory-confirmed cases in which an inpatient hospitalization occurred at any time during the course of illness,” DOH said. “These people may no longer be hospitalized. This number does not represent the number of COVID-19 positive persons currently hospitalized. We do not have a figure for that information at this time.”
As of Thursday morning, DOH reported that 9,603 people had been tested in Pinellas with 9,006 testing negative. Nine tests were inconclusive and results were pending for 68. DOH said 5.5% of test results were coming back as positive.
Most cases in St. Petersburg, Clearwater and Largo
DOH provided updated and revised information on the city of residence for 472 of the cases in Pinellas on Wednesday night. St. Petersburg, Clearwater and Largo are still the county’s hot spots. St. Petersburg has the most cases with 141, another 100 are Clearwater residents, 64 from Largo, 42 from Seminole, 30 from Palm Harbor, 24 from Tarpon Springs, 18 from Dunedin, 11 from Pinellas Park, eight from Clearwater Beach, seven from Safety Harbor, six from Oldsmar, three each from Belleair, Indian Rocks Beach and Gulfport, two each from Bay Pines, Belleair Bluffs and Madeira Beach, and one each from Belleair Beach, Kenneth City, North Redington Beach, Crystal Beach, Treasure Island and South Pasadena.
Sixty cases were reported in long-term care facilities, which is an area that has seen a big spike in numbers this week. Several were reportedly from Freedom Square Seminole Nursing Pavilion.
COVID-19 deaths in Pinellas
The county’s death toll increased to 14 as of Tuesday morning. DOH reported that an 80-year-old man who had traveled to New York had died due to coronavirus.
Five deaths were reported from April 7-11. DOH reported the death of a 74-year-old man on Saturday night, which was not travel-related.
Two deaths were reported April 10, a 78-year-old woman who had traveled to Washington, D.C. and in Florida, and a 75-year-old man who had traveled to New York.
DOH reported the death of a 56-year-old woman on April 8 and a 76-year-old woman on April 7. Neither was travel-related.
The county’s first death attributed to coronavirus reported on March 23 was a 52-year-old male. He had traveled to Bulgaria, Germany and Utah. The county’s second travel-related death was an 82-year-old man who had traveled to Ohio and in Florida.
The six other deaths were not travel-related and include two women: a 40-year-old, the youngest victim so far, and an 83-year-old. The rest were men, ages 85, 67, 64 and 58.
Local state of emergency extended
Pinellas County extended its local state of emergency and “safer-at-home” order for another seven days, effective April 17-24. Beaches and pools will remain closed. All nonessential businesses will remain closed. For more information, visit pinellascounty.org/emergency/covid19/FAQ-Stay-at-Home-Order.pdf.
The county Emergency Operations Center is working at a Level 1 virtual activation. Visit www.pinellascounty.org/emergency/covid19/default.htm for the latest updates.
State cases number more than 22,800
The number of confirmed cases in Florida residents was up to 22,235 on Thursday morning. Another 662 cases were reported in nonresidents, bringing the state’s total to 22,897 — 397 more than the number reported last night and 816 more than what DOH reported Wednesday morning.
The number of deaths in Florida increased to 633, which is 19 more than the number reported last night. DOH reports that 3,305 have been hospitalized statewide.
DOH reported that 220,892 had been tested statewide with 196,351 testing negative. DOH says 10.4 percent of tests results have been positive.
Of the 22,897 statewide cases, 1,521 were travel-related, 5,596 had contact with a confirmed case, 1,211 had travel and contact with a confirmed case and 13,907 were under investigation.
Florida is under a stay-at-home order that remains in effect until April 30.
National cases top 640,000
According to information from Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, posted at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, cases of coronavirus in the United States were up to 640,291 with 31,002 deaths compared 634,975 with 27,940 deaths reported at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. The number of global cases increased to 2,090,110 with 139,419 deaths compared to 2,049,888 with 133,572 deaths last night.
For more information on the coronavirus, visit www.floridahealth.gov/index.html. If you think you might need to be tested, contact your health provider, or call the state DOH’s COVID-19 hotline at 1-866-779-6121 or the Pinellas County DOH’s hotline at 727-824-6900. Both numbers are open 24/7.
