Coronavirus update – May 27th
Bottom Line: This daily update is designed to put everything in perspective with straight-forward facts. No hyperbole, no misinformation, no nonsense. The biggest news Tuesday was what was expected. The United States crossed the 100,000 death threshold for COVID-19. It is a reality check and reminder than the threat of the virus was and is very real. COVID-19 is the deadliest virus in the United States since the 1918 pandemic which killed an estimated 500,000 people.
Otherwise the news outside of Brazil and Russia, both of which continue to see rapid growth in cases, was generally positive. Tuesday produced the fewest new diagnosed cases in the United States in over two weeks - May 11th. This is especially encouraging with all 50 states having been in some phase of re opening for at least a week...and in the case of the five original states to have reopened, including Georgia, for over a month.
Here’s where we stand as of now...
Worldwide:
- 5,698,421– 352,475 deaths – 2,443,803 recovered
Nationally:
- 1,725,275 cases –100,572 deaths – 479,969 recovered
Florida:
- 51,746 cases – 2,252 deaths
In Florida, we had 509 new diagnosed cases and 7 deaths attributed to COVID-19. Both of those numbers are below the two-week trendline and are especially encouraging with most of the state having started the opening process over three weeks ago. Florida continues to outperform the country as a whole. We’re the third most populous state but just 9th in total cases and 11th in deaths. 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. More than half of all of Florida’s cases remain 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 remained at 5.7% - the lowest since testing began. That's down from the peak of 11%. 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 and wearing masks in public. The average age of someone diagnosed with COVID-19 in Florida is 54.