How vulnerable Florida is to COVID-19 & how well we’re managing the outbreak
Bottom Line: Recently the CDC specifically confirmed what previous guidance had suggested. Those oldest are the most vulnerable. That’s not unusual with viruses. What is, is the other end of their guidance. Those youngest are least at risk. This is different than all other known viruses which have proven deadly. Typically, young children are the 2nd highest at-risk group. Based on this information we know that not only does age matter, older is riskier with this thing. That allows us to see how vulnerable Florida is relative to the rest of the country with the coronavirus. And let’s just say that the old saying that we’re God’s waiting room isn’t just an old saying...
The median age of all Americans is 38, with the youngest state being Utah (31), to Maine being the oldest (45). In Florida, we’re the fifth oldest state with a median age of 42, but that’s only scratching the surface of the story. Our population is larger than eight of the other top ten states combined. This includes a population of adults over 60 that’s also larger than those other states combined as well. Add in the international diversity of Florida, the worldwide travel destination we happen to be and it’s safe to say that Florida is the most vulnerable state in the country.
More than a fifth of Florida’s population, over 4.5 million people, are over the age of 65. It’s a reminder about the importance of remaining diligent with all of the recommendations we receive from authorities. Even if you aren’t in a specifically high-risk category, the odds are that you come in contact with those who are regularly. As for how well Florida has managed the outbreak so far...
The following states have more diagnosed cases of COVID-19 than Florida:
- California
- Massachusetts
- New York
- Washington
Only California is a larger state and if you’ve watched the handling of the response by New York, for example, it’s easy to see the differences in the proactive approach of Florida. We don’t know what we don’t know about the COVID-19 outlook. It could well become a much bigger issue in our state. What is clear, is that we’re the most at-risk state for the virus in the country but have fared far better than others, including states considerably smaller than ours. Leadership and proactive steps to diagnose and limit exposure matter in situations like these. Florida’s fared as well as we could have hoped for considering. Fingers crossed that remains the case.