Coronavirus in Florida – May 1st
Bottom Line: We had 497 new cases and 50 deaths in Florida attributed to the coronavirus on Thursday. Both of those numbers were slightly higher than the prior day totals though the longer-term declining trends are still intact. Now we head for phase 1 reopening on Monday in 64 of Florida’s 67 counties, with the exceptions of course being Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach...although elective surgeries will be allowed to resume in South Florida next week.
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. Only New York has tested more than Florida. 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:
- 33,690 cases – 1,268 deaths
Here’s the count in South Florida right now...
- Broward: 4,953
- Miami-Dade: 12,063
- Palm Beach: 2,963
The overall positive test rate in Florida remained 8.8% on Thursday – equaling the lowest rate since testing began and is well lower than the peak of 11%. As a reminder, 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, safer-at-home declarations and wearing masks in public. The highest concentration of cases is coming from those between the ages of 45-54.