44 deaths, 527 new COVID-19 cases in Florida Wednesday

State health officials reported 44 new deaths tied to COVID-19 Wednesday, raising the state’s death toll to 2,173.

That total comprises 2,096 Florida residents and 77 non-residents. The state didn’t report any non-resident deaths Wednesday.

The Department of Health (DOH) also confirmed 527 positive cases in the state since Tuesday’s report, raising the total of confirmed cases to 47,471. And now 8,934 people with the novel coronavirus have been hospitalized after the state reported 187 new residents and three new non-resident hospitalizations.

Coinciding with relaxed dining, retail, gym and vacation rental regulations, Miami-Dade and Broward counties, the state’s two hardest-hit counties, opened Monday. Palm Beach County opened the previous Monday.

In the last 24 hours, 92 people in Miami-Dade County tested positive, raising the overall COVID-19 caseload there to 16,034 people. Eleven people have died since Tuesday’s report, raising the county’s death toll to 598.

Broward County registered 38 new cases, raising its total to 6,407, and three people died, lifting the death toll there to 307. Palm Beach County now has 4,776 cases after DOH showed 77 new cases along with seven deaths, bringing the total to 302.

Six other counties have more than 1,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases including Orange with 1,708, Hillsborough with 1,703, Lee with 1,542, Duval with 1,336, Pinellas with 1,075 and Collier with 1,058.

Surgeon General Scott Rivkees acknowledged a syndrome that attacks children and is associated with COVID-19 has surfaced in Florida, adding a new dimension to the battle against the novel coronavirus in the state. During a statewide call with hospital representatives, he encouraged physicians and hospitals to make sure they report any suspected cases of what is known as a “multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children” to health department officials.

The DeSantis administration is facing scrutiny from scientists after FLORIDA TODAY reported DOH’s GIS manager, Rebekah Jones, was removed from her role designing, managing and updating the dashboard.

But the Governor’s head spokeswoman, Helen Aguirre Ferré, bashed Jones Tuesday for a “repeated course of insubordination during her time with the Department, including her unilateral decisions to modify the Department’s COVID-19 dashboard without input or approval from the epidemiological team or her supervisors.”