Jacob Ogles
Florida broke 900,000 reported cases of COVID-19. And nearly 18,000 have died from the disease.
The latest report from the Department of Health shows a total of 905,248 have tested positive in Florida. That’s an increase of 7,925 cases since the Tuesday report.
The state also reported 17,949 deaths, including 17,731 Florida residents felled by the coronavirus and another 218 out-of-state visitors who died from COVID-19 in the state. That’s a jump of 88 deaths from the last tally released by the state.
Three days in the last week, Florida saw more than 7,000 cases reported in a single day. The latest spike came as 104,996 tests came back on Tuesday, 9.71% of which were positive. That means the positivity rate has been above 5% for all of the past two weeks. The positivity rate Friday for just Florida residents was 8.16%.
The total number of recent hospitalizations has grown to 52,637.
The disease caused by the coronavirus continues to pose the greatest threat to older Floridians. About 5,644 of those who have died from COVID-19 in the state were age 85 and older. Among that age group, more than 1 in 4 testing positive for the disease have died. About 13% of those age 75 to 84 who tested positive for the disease died, or 5,181 people.
But the mortality rate for the population as a whole remains around 2% in the state.
The increase in cases come as some parts of the nation experience a surge. Earlier this month, the U.S. surpassed 10 million cases of COVID-19. Texas became the first state to record a million infections and California surpassed that milestone shortly after. At the current rate, Florida could reach that grim milestone within a few weeks.
A cohort of South Florida Mayors on Wednesday urged Gov. Ron DeSantis to take a more aggressive approach to containing the virus, which has most savagely struck that region of the state.
“It’s unmistakably clear that Florida’s approach to managing this pandemic is failing pretty horribly,” said Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber.
