Staff Reports
Various local governments, most notably in Northeast Florida, are opening beaches and parks in a bet that the COVID-19 curve is flattening.
But despite indications that COVID-19 has peaked in the state, Department of Health data shows the novel coronavirus is still a persistent concern.
The latest grim milestone: the state passed 25,000 cases as of Saturday morning, up to 25,269, with 516 more cases counted overnight.
While new cases were down Friday from Thursday’s number, 1,100 more positive diagnoses aggregated since Thursday morning.
Confirmed deaths from COVID-19 in Florida stand at 740, having jumped by 14 Saturday morning from Friday evening’s total, and 54 from Friday morning’s 686.
More COVID-19 patients were hospitalized also. Friday closed with 3,649 hospitalized, but Saturday morning’s tally added another 31 to the overnight tally, which now stands at 3,680.
That number stood at 3,507 Friday morning. But there is no official concern about a spike.
State leaders, including the Governor, have repeatedly said that even in the hardest-hit counties, such as South Florida and Orange County, there is no danger of a shortage of hospital beds, including the ICU berths that house the most critically ill.
South Florida has consistently been the largest hot spot of COVID-19 with Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties home to three in five of the state’s coronavirus cases.
DOH confirmed two fatalities in Miami-Dade County overnight, raising the death toll there to 197.
Caseload surged closer to 9,000 overnight, reaching 8,966, up from the 8,824 cases Friday night.
In Broward County, 3,833 people have tested positive, an increase of 145 since Friday night, and nine more, now 116 total, have passed away there as of Saturday morning.
Palm Beach County now reports 2,125 cases and 114 fatalities, 37 new cases and one less reported fatality since the day before. The state has struggled with reporting deaths, often revising previous days’ number with fewer deaths, but sometimes re-adding them later.
Long-term care facilities continue to struggle with the virus, with 18 more positive diagnoses and five deaths confirmed overnight.
A total of 1,627 residents and staff have tested positive and 162 people have died, as of Saturday morning’s report.
The situation is dire for institutionalized seniors.
According to the Florida Health Care Association, nursing homes and assisted living facilities have insufficient protective equipment to last two weeks.
Convicts also are under siege.
The novel coronavirus is running rampant through Florida’s prisons, where thousands of people exposed to COVID-19 are either in isolation or treatment. The Department of Corrections released data Friday confirming that COVID-19 is a problem for staffers and inmates alike.
4 comments
ConsernedCitizen
April 18, 2020 at 11:06 am
As we continue to test, we will surely see that the infection is far more intense than thought. However, that may not be a bad thing. There is no mention in the article, of the actual number of people who were hospitalized, though it does mention the number of known affected people.
Many people will now try to blame Gov. DeSantis for trying to get the State back to being viable.
The Gov. is following the guidelines and doing what he feels is best for the delicate balance between physical well s being and economic well being.
One of these cannot be the sole concern, since they are intertwined in their importance.
As far as the jails and nursing homes are concerned, it is hard to believe that the staff in those places have shortages of PPE. It is of great concern to me, that convicts are being let out of jails in wholesale amounts, and that their sentences are being commuted due to this virus. This could prove to be a danger to society when this virus finally slows to a trickle.
Frankie M.
April 18, 2020 at 11:51 am
Do these 25,000 confirmed cases include positives from private labs? I think China isn’t the only place suppressing numbers. We don’t have an accurate number of dead and we don’t have a national testing system in place due to the feds passing the buck but by all means “let’s get back to work” as Rick Scott is fond of saying.
Frankie M.
April 18, 2020 at 1:45 pm
I was out at the beach this morning and I thought I saw Taylor Swift warming up…
Sonja Fitch
April 18, 2020 at 3:46 pm
Yep Desantis and that stupid picture with the “michealjackson” glove. Florida does not peak til may 5. Let’s see how many piles of corpses this sociopathic idiot causes to do what the money and paranoid delusional liar trump wants done. Pathetic!!!!!!!!
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