Janelle Irwin Taylor
Hillsborough County is approaching 1,000 cases of COVID-19, with 917 cases now reported, according to the Florida Department of Health.
The number of cases went up 44 since Thursday morning, with 39 of those new cases reported overnight.
If that rate holds, the county could surpass 1,000 cases by the end of the weekend and would be only the fifth county to do so.
Hillsborough is one of the most affected counties, ranking only behind Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Orange counties.
Tampa remains the county’s epicenter of the outbreak with 600 cases, the 8th highest number among Florida cities.
No new deaths were reported overnight as the county remained at 18. The county has tested 14,324 individuals and hospitalized 146 sick individuals.
Pinellas cases are also on the rise with 557 cases reported as of Friday morning, an increase of 27 overnight.
St. Pete is the epicenter of the virus in Pinellas with 151 cases.
The county confirmed one new death, an 84-year-old female who had no known travel or contact with a known case. The woman died April 12.
It’s unclear whether the latest death was related to a massive outbreak at a longterm care facility in Seminole. The Freedom Square facility has sent 58 residents to local hospitals in recent days, marking on of the state’s worst outbreaks in elder care facilities.
Eighty-three cases have been reported in Pinellas longterm care facilities including two deaths. The county has the fourth largest number of individuals affected, behind only Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, all of which are in the South Florida epicenter.
Hillsborough, by comparison, has had just 15 reported cases and no deaths among residents or staff at longterm care facilities.
