Staff Reports
A steady climb in the number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 continues to heighten concerns in Florida.
More than 4,817 Florida residents have been hospitalized with the disease.
The Department of Health this morning reported Florida surpassed 30,000 positive tests for COVID-19 and 1,000 deaths from it. By 5 p.m. on Friday, deaths were at 1,046, with 34 more reported dead since 10 a.m. the same morning.
Total cases continued upward to 30,533, including 29,707 Florida residents and 826 visitors from elsewhere.
The growth comes after a sudden spike on Thursday in the number of cases that has some saying plans to re-open Florida business should be delayed.
The Florida Department of Health reported 1,261 new cases Thursday, the highest number of new cases reported in a single day in more than two weeks, though still not as high as the peak of 1,311 new cases on April 3.
Gov. Ron DeSantis directed the Re-Open Florida Task Force to rely on President Donald Trump’s Opening Up America Again plan as a template for bringing non-essential businesses back online. But phase one of that is triggered only when a state has seen declining numbers for 14 days.
At the same time, testing is limited, in almost all circumstances, only to those showing symptoms or who have had direct contact with someone who already tested positive for the coronavirus.
The 359-case increase from the morning to evening report wasn’t nearly as high as the 526 cases that were first noted Friday morning. It marked a 24-hour increase of 885 cases from 5 p.m. Thursday to 5 p.m. Friday.
Health officials continue to monitor and report cases twice a day.
Meanwhile, Floridians continue to grapple with an error-prone unemployment website leaving many without work and moving ahead without a social safety net. The website for Floridians to apply for unemployment was shut down Friday and will remain down until Monday while officials struggle to process claims.
One comment
Linda Shambaugh
April 24, 2020 at 6:56 pm
1. My daughter with several symptoms of Covid-19, a fever of 100.7 and a long history of severe asthma cannot get tested in pinellas county!! This is rediculous! I believe they don’t want or record the increases and show the shortages of swabs/testing agents!
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