Staff Reports
New COVID-19 cases barely ticked up Saturday evening with 223 new cases reported, less than half the number of new cases reported overnight, as Gov. Ron DeSantis moves forward with strategies to reopen the state.
DeSantis announced Saturday, just moments before new data became available, that the state’s task force studying reopening strategies will be announced Monday, the same day the group meets by phone for the first time.
The Florida Department of Health now reports 25,492 cases, up from 25,269 Saturday morning.
Statewide cases have begun to slow, a trend evidenced in a report predicting COVID-19 has already peaked in the state.
Earlier Friday, the state, for the first time, exceeded 25,000 cases after posting 516 additional cases overnight, bringing the one-day increase in cases to 739.
Confirmed deaths from COVID-19 in Florida rose to 748 Saturday evening, an increase of 8 since the morning. Over the last 24-hours, the state confirmed 22 new deaths.
The continued slowing comes as various local governments, most notably in Northeast Florida, are reopening beaches and parks in a bet that the COVID-19 curve is flattening.
Hospitalizations also rose Saturday evening, but just barely. Only 65 more hospitalizations were recorded since the morning and 96 since the day before.
Despite new hospitalizations, 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 in the ICU where the most critically ill are treated.
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.
Miami-Dade, the state’s epicenter for the virus, crossed the 9,000 mark, growing its total caseload to 9,045, up 221 since Friday.
DOH confirmed two fatalities in Miami-Dade County overnight and another one in the afternoon, raising the death toll there to 198.
Broward County added just five new cases of the novel coronavirus Saturday evening and 150 since Friday. The Florida Department of Health revised its death toll down one to 115. Earlier data had shown an increase of nine deaths since Friday. The state has struggled with reporting deaths, often revising previous days’ number with fewer deaths, but sometimes re-adding them later.
Palm Beach County numbers rose just 13 since the morning and 50 since Friday, bringing the total to 2,138. Deaths remain unchanged since the morning at 114, which is one less than the DOH reported Friday.
The situation is dire for institutionalized seniors. The afternoon numbers for those cases had not yet been updated, but as of the morning there were 1,627 residents and staff at longterm care facilities who tested Positive for COVID-19 including 162 who have died.
DeSantis announced Saturday he instructed Surgeon General Scott Rivkees to begin releasing data about specific facilities where COVID-19 cases have been reported, a move he had previously refused to make. It’s unlikely that data will be available on the DOH’s evening report.
According to the Florida Health Care Association, nursing homes and assisted living facilities have insufficient protective equipment to last two weeks.
