Florida crosses 60K COVID-19 diagnoses

More than 60,000 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in Florida as of Thursday, according to state health officials.

Another influx in new tests coming in helped drive a second consecutive day of more than 1,000 new cases. Tuesday saw 1,222 diagnoses while Wednesday saw 1,303, the most diagnoses in a single day since 1,313 people tested positive on April 3.

By 10 a.m. Thursday, Florida had identified 60,183 positive cases, 1,419 more than 24 hours prior. That included 1,482 non-Floridians tested and isolated in the state.

Another 41 people died, all Florida residents, raising the state’s death toll to 2,691. And 127 people, all residents, were hospitalized, raising the count of those hospitalized to 127.

Tuesday and Wednesday were also the first consecutive days of 1,000 COVID-19 cases since April 16 and 17. But the Department of Health (DOH) now receives more test results than it did in mid-April.

The department received results for a combined 31,439 individuals on April 16 and 17 while it received twice that many Tuesday and Wednesday, a combined 66,907. The positivity rate for new cases also continued to track down to 3.58%, back near the recent average, after spiking to 5.68% Monday.

Florida has received as many as 77,934 individuals’ results in a single day and has tested more than 1 million people, but Gov. Ron DeSantis and Division of Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz say the demand for tests falls short of the state’s expanded testing apparatus.

The most deaths in a single day, rather than when the death was reported, was 59 on May 4.

At least 1,332 residents and staff of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities have died throughout the pandemic, 26 more than by Wednesday’s report.

South Florida’s Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties still remain the state’s largest hot spots of the virus since DOH officials confirmed the first two Florida cases three months ago.

Since Wednesday’s report, 323 people in Miami-Dade County have tested positive, raising the overall COVID-19 caseload there to 18,779 people. Fifteen of the 41 people who died statewide were tied to Miami-Dade, raising the death toll there to 757.

Broward County registered 123 new cases, raising its total to 7,462, and seven people, now 346 total, died there. Palm Beach County now has 6,688 cases after DOH showed 211 new reports and four fatalities, now 376 total.

Three other counties have more than 2,000 COVID-19 cases: Hillsborough with 2,479, Orange with 2,169 and Lee with 2,147. Five more have upwards of 1,000 cases: Collier with 1,814, Duval with 1,702, Pinellas with 1,397, Manatee with 1,134 and Polk with 1,100.

Escambia County is the next closest to crossing that threshold, now with 866 cases.

Antibody testing is available for first responders at five drive-thru sites located in Duval, Miami-Dade, Orange and Palm Beach counties.

Phase Two of Florida’s reopening will start Friday, reopening movie theaters, bars and casinos in all counties but Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach, limited at 50% capacity. On Monday, Miami-Dade will reopen gyms, summer camps and short-term vacation rentals.