As Phase Two begins, Florida reports third consecutive day of 1,000-plus new positives

Only a few hours into Phase Two of Florida’s COVID-19 response, state health officials reported 1,305 new COVID-19 cases Friday as cases rose by more than 1,000 for the third straight day.

On Thursday, the state crossed 60,000 diagnoses, now with 61,488 total. And the state’s death toll is now 2,745, including 85 non-Florida residents who died in the state, after an additional 54 people died in the last 24 hours.

The state’s data report showing precisely how many people tested positive each calendar day — as opposed to in a 24-hour period — was not released at the time of publication, but at least 1,000 of the new cases were confirmed Thursday. That makes Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday the first three consecutive days since April 9, 10 and 11 that more than 1,000 people tested positive.

However, the state has greater access to testing than it did in April.

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.

Still, the number of tests issued in recent days appears to be rising, as is the number of positives, indicating a slight bump in the low share of new positive results that the Governor has touted.

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

South Florida’s Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties still remain the state’s largest hot spots of the virus since the Department of Health (DOH) officials confirmed the first two Florida cases three months ago and are not entering Phase Two along with the state’s 64 other counties.

Since Thursday’s report, 277 people in Miami-Dade County have tested positive, raising the overall COVID-19 caseload there to 19,056 people. Fourteen of the 54 people who died statewide were tied to Miami-Dade, raising the death toll there to 771.

Broward County registered 110 new cases, raising its total to 7,572, and two people, now 348 total, died there. Palm Beach County now has 6,859 cases after DOH showed 171 new reports and four fatalities, now 380 total.

Three other counties have more than 2,000 COVID-19 cases: Hillsborough with 2,554, Orange with 2,210 and Lee with 2,200. Five more have upward of 1,000 cases: Collier with 1,874, Duval with 1,736, Pinellas with 1,478, Manatee with 1,162 and Polk with 1,127.

Escambia County is the next closest to crossing that threshold, now with 871 cases.

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

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

The screening checkpoint at the Alabama border on Interstate 10 also closed Friday. That checkpoint was intended to identify travelers from Louisiana to self-isolate per an executive order by DeSantis that lapsed Friday.