Coronavirus in Florida – April 21st
Bottom Line: We’ve had 744 new cases and 49 deaths in Florida attributed to the coronavirus over the past day but in general the news continued to be more favorable than not in our state. It’s looking increasingly likely that the peak for total cases occurred on April 3rd. Yesterday I began tracking Florida’s performance against President Trump’s 3-Phase plan for reopening the country. It showed the potential for us to be on track for a potential phase-1 reopening on May 1st. Yesterday’s performance statewide would appear to keep us on track for that possibility with a steady number of new cases, which are lower than the recent peak hit last Thursday and the lowest percentage of positive test results in over two weeks.
Overall hospitalizations are currently at their highest levels in Florida, with 4,000 COVID-19 patients currently being served. That’s an increase of about 200 over Sunday, though Florida’s hospital system still has 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. 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:
- 27,058 cases – 823 deaths
Here’s the count in South Florida right now...
- Broward: 4,078
- Miami-Dade: 9,657
- Palm Beach: 2,260
We continue to see a high rate of positive test results in Florida but the news continued to improve through Monday. To date 9.9% 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 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.