Florida cases of COVID-19 reach beyond 77K

The Florida Department of Health reports more than 77,000 have tested positive for COVID-19 in the state.

Total cases now have reached 77,326 according to a Monday morning report.. That’s an increase of 1,758 since the state last released figures on Sunday.

A total of 3,030 have died in the state,, 2,938 of them Florida residents. That’s an increase of eight overnight, including one out-of-stater.

In total, 12,015 individuals have been hospitalized.

The cases comes after days of record-setting numbers of coronavirus, calling into question previous assertions that Florida had “flattened the curve.”

The Department of Health’s latest total of confirmed cases for Sunday, 1,807, moves the running five-day average to 1,922 cases per day. Epidemiologists prefer to track five-day averages because single-day numbers can be anomalies. A week ago, for June 7, the five-day average was 1,030 cases per day. A week before that, on May 31, the five-day average was 834.

In recent days, Florida has seen its total number of cases rocket past 75,000 as the death toll in the state exceeded 3,000.

State officials have been quick to point out that testing has stepped up significantly since the beginning of the pandemic. After Florida’s first case was reported on March 1, limited tests were only being used for symptomatic people with doctors’ directives. At this point, officials are encouraging even asymptomatic people to use testing sites around the state.

On Sunday, 32,324 test results came back, including 2,305 positives. That makes for a 6.72% positivity rate, a key metric in evaluating the spread of the pandemic. That’s a higher rate than the day before but a lower number of tests. On Saturday, there were50,405 test results that came in, of which 2,706, or 5.37%, were positive.

As has been the trend since the beginning of the crisis, the majority of those tested positive fall into older demographics. As of Monday at 10 a.m., 86% of all cases were for individuals age 65 and older. with 36% being those age 85 or older.

But the increases also come as Florida further reopens a variety of businesses following a month-long statewide stay-at-home order for most of April.

Most recently, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Florida’s Phase Two reopening as of June 5, 10 days ago. That included allowing 100% capacity at retailers and mass gatherings of 50 or less. It also allowed the reopening of bars and movie theaters, though some chains like AMC are still not opening locations.

At this point, all major theme parks except the ones at the Walt Disney World Resort have re-opened with a variety of capacity limits and face mask rules.

Regard for DeSantis’ containment plans for the virus, winning praise a couple weeks ago, has started to draw consternation and mockery among politics experts in the state, according to the most recent Florida Politics Florida Influencer Poll.