Coronavirus update – May 7th
Bottom Line: This daily update is designed to put everything in perspective with straight-forward facts. No hyperbole, no misinformation, no nonsense. 34 states are in phase one reopening, including Florida (with the exceptions of Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties). Though it’s too early to get a read on Florida’s 64 counties which have reopened – there's still no indication that the five counties which opened beaches on April 17th have any associated issues with having done so.
Here’s where we stand as of now...
Worldwide:
- 3,740,583 – 258,481 deaths – 1,247,191 recovered
Nationally:
- 1,237,761 cases – 72,275 deaths – 200,669 recovered
Florida:
- 37,439 cases – 1,471 deaths
Florida had 542 new cases and 72 deaths attributed to the coronavirus over the past day. The new case count was down significantly from the prior day – while overall deaths rose – though the rise includes 41 non-Floridians who died from the virus but were believed to have contracted it in Florida. In general, the trends remain positive in Florida and across the country. This is especially encouraging with most of the country in some phase of reopening including five states which are now twelve days into phase one reopening – including Georgia.The average incubation period for the virus according to the CDC & WHO is five days. The maximum incubation period is 14 days.
Florida remains 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’ve also tested more aggressively than most states, with only New York having tested more than Florida. The range in age for positive tests in our state ranges from infants to 105. 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.
The overall positive test rate in Florida continued to improve Tuesday dropping to a new low. 8% of all tests for COVID-19 have come back positive – that's down from the peak of 11% just over two weeks ago. As a reminder, 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, safer-at-home declarations and wearing masks in public. The average age of someone diagnosed with COVID-19 in Florida is 52.