Coronavirus in Florida – April 20th
Bottom Line: We’ve had 2,974 new cases and 106 deaths in Florida attributed to the coronavirus since Friday. Much like the improving national picture, the latest estimates suggest we’ve passed the peak for COVID-19 deaths in Florida. In a separate story today, breaking out how Florida compares to the Trump administration's guidelines for reopening the country, it’s looking entirely possible Florida could begin to reopen in May. Related, Florida’s Task Force on reopening the state will be announced and begin meetings today and is set to issue guidance by the end of the week to Governor DeSantis. Additionally, DeSantis ordered full disclosure of all elder care facilities with COVID-19 cases after it was determined that 20% of all Florida cases have derived from these homes.
Overall hospitalizations are now at their highest levels in Florida, with 3,813 COVID-19 patients currently being served. That’s an increase of about 400 over the weekend, though Florida’s hospital system still has about 40% capacity available if needed. Florida remained 8th in the country in total cases and 10th in deaths. We’re the third most populous state. Florida’s performing far better than most states on a relative basis. We’re also testing more aggressively than most states, adjusted for population, making the performance of our state even more impressive (regardless of misleading local news reporting). The range in age for positive tests in our state ranges from infants to 104. More than half of all of Florida’s cases currently are in the tri-county area with Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach having the most cases in the state in that order.
Here’s where we now stand in Florida:
- 26,314 cases – 774 deaths
Here’s the count in South Florida right now...
- Broward: 3,971
- Miami-Dade: 9,354
- Palm Beach: 2,170
We continue to see a high rate of positive test results in Florida but the news continued to improve through the weekend. To date 10% of all tests for COVID-19 have come back positive. That’s a decline from 11% at the peak, backing up the idea we’ve crossed the peak in Florida. Still, the further into testing we go, the more likely the newest diagnosed cases are new cases obtained through community spread. This reinforces the importance of adhering to the warnings of public officials including social distancing and safer-at-home declarations. The highest concentration of cases is coming from those between the ages of 45-54.