Coronavirus on the rise: Hillsborough County exceeds 4,000 cases as Pinellas sees higher mortality rate

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Coronavirus cases in the Tampa Bay continue to rise.

Hillsborough County added another 189 cases Monday, according to the most recent Florida Department of Health data released Tuesday.

That’s down from 223 new cases Sunday, but significantly up from the 22 cases reported three weeks ago.

Hillsborough’s total number of cases is now more than 4,000 including 3,967 residents and 62 non-residents.

Pinellas County added 136 new cases Monday, down from 154 Sunday and 165 Saturday, but up from just seven reported three weeks ago.

The county’s total is now 2,523 including 2,471 residents.

State officials have attributed the rise in positive cases to increased testing capacity. At the beginning of the pandemic, only symptomatic residents with reason to believe they had been exposed to the virus were able to obtain tests. Now most counties, including Pinellas and Hillsborough, offer testing to anyone regardless of contact or symptoms.

Still, the positive test rate, a key data point officials are looking at to determine community spread, is on the rise.

Hillsborough County’s percent of positive tests on Monday was 6.6%, down from 8.6% on Sunday, but up from a two week low of 2.5% on June 5.

Pinellas’ positive test rate is also 6.6%, up from just 1.2% two weeks ago.

A quarter of Pinellas County’s cases are from residents, patients and staff at longterm care facilities. Hillsborough is lower at 15% of cases, but still higher than the state average of 14%.

Despite the prevalence in longterm care facilities like nursing homes and assisted living facilities, the virus continues to trend younger with both Pinellas and Hillsborough having the highest number of infected individuals between the ages of 25-34.

In Pinellas, the median age of positive patients is 57, but those between the ages of 25 and 34 account for 517 cases. The next highest age range is 35-44 with 339 case.

In Hillsborough 848 individuals between 25 and 34 tested positive, followed by the 35-44 demographic with 620 cases. The median age there is 49.

A total of 543 people have been hospitalized with the virus in Hillsborough County and 103 have died.

Though Pinellas County’s caseload is much lower than Hillsborough’s, more people are being hospitalized in general with 475 needing a hospital bed. More people have also died. That number is now at 107.

That disparity may be attributable to Pinellas County’s higher rate of cases in longterm care facilities.