Coronavirus update – July 8th
Bottom Line: This daily update is designed to put everything in perspective with straight-forward facts. No hyperbole, no misinformation, no nonsense. Tuesday brought about an increase in cases and deaths around the world, in the United States and in Florida. Nationally, with over 55,000 new cases diagnosed, it was the third highest total during the pandemic. Additionally, with nearly a thousand deaths in the United States related to the virus, it was the highest total since June 10th. The recent narrative that overall deaths are in decline, isn’t proving to be correct. While it’s true that the overall death rate is in decline with the recent rise in cases in younger people, the pace and total numbers of daily deaths have been on the rise and are now back to levels of a month ago when the average diagnosed American was 15 years older on average.
In related news, the Texas Medical Association put out a chart on activities ranked on the risk of contracting the virus. The lowest risk activity is opening mail. The highest is going to a bar. In this instance what would appear to be common sense generally prevails.
Here’s where we stand as of now...
Worldwide:
- 11,957,736 – 546,791 deaths – 6,904,182 recovered
Nationally:
- 3,097,084 cases – 133,972 deaths – 1,354,863 recovered
Florida:
- 213,794 cases – 3,841 deaths - 29,425 recovered
In Florida, we had 7,347 new diagnosed cases on Tuesday, an increase of greater than a thousand from Monday along with 63 deaths. The past week has produced the highest number of deaths in Florida since May 8th. South Florida remains the epicenter of the virus with Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties having the most cases in that order. There are 92 zip codes in South Florida which are hotspots including 19 in Palm Beach County, 25 in Broward and 48 in Miami-Dade. Miami-Dade has decided to roll back reopening efforts today, as bars, dining rooms at restaurants and vacation rentals are now closed once again.
The overall positive test rate continues to rise in Florida. After reaching a low of 5.2% in May, the rate since testing began has risen to 9.4% - including testing at greater than 10% positive, the target rate, each day since June 22nd. We’re seeing the spike in cases coming from both an increase in testing and predominantly from increased community spread. The reinforces the importance of using proper safety measures like wearing masks in public and socially distancing.
Florida is 4th in total cases, while the state is 9th in deaths. Florida is the third most populous state, so despite current struggles – we've fared better on balance than most states since the pandemic began. With over 133,000 deaths attributed to COVID-19, it is the deadliest virus in the United States since the 1918 pandemic which killed over 675,000 Americans.