Coronavirus update – May 8th
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). Russia remains the world’s fastest growing hot spot as they’re now fifth in the world in total cases and rising quickly. Brazil is likewise continuing to see significant growth in new cases,though the pace in new cases has begun to slow. Yesterday we crossed a death total of 75,000 in the United States.It’s now realistic, perhaps likely, that the warnings of a loss of 100,000+ Americans is sued a month ago by Surgeon General Jerome Adams will occur.
Here’s where we stand as of now...
Worldwide:
- 3,918,697 – 270,795 deaths – 1,344,597 recovered
Nationally:
- 1,292,850 cases –76,938 deaths – 217,251 recovered
Florida:
- 38,828 cases – 1,600 deaths
Florida had 826 new cases and 61 deaths attributed to the coronavirus over the past day. The new case count, while still below the trendline, is the highest of any daily total since Florida began phase one reopening this week and will certainly be closely watched by state officials as they weigh next steps for South Florida and the rest of the state generally. It is worth noting that for whatever reason, Thursday’s have consistently been the highest day for new diagnosed cases in Florida, throughout the pandemic. The peak day for cases in Florida was April 3rd.
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 Thursday dropping to yet another new low of 7.8% - 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.