This daily update is designed to put everything into perspective with straight-forward facts. Thursday was the day the United States became the epicenter for cases worldwide with New York now representing ground zero. Cases in the northeast especially, have skyrocketed. New York and New Jersey lead the country in cases with well over half of the total cases coming from those two states.
China had a third straight day of fewer than 100 new cases. Questions remain about the validity of these numbers but if even somewhat true, it's encouraging and could provide a timeline for turning the corner in this country. One of the other bright spots on the horizon is the recent FDA approval of a new test that can produce results in as few as 45 minutes. The new tests are set to begin shipping today.
As of this entry, there are 2,484 instate cases and 26 deaths in Florida. In the US, there are 85,612 cases, 1,301 deaths, and 1,868 recovered. Worldwide, there are 536,615 cases, 24,114 deaths, and 124,402 recovered.
We experienced more than 63,000 additional cases worldwide on Thursday, the most of any day, with more than 17,000 new cases in the US and 269 additional deaths. The United States now leads the world in total cases. In more promising news, well over a thousand Americans were proven to have beaten the virus yesterday leading to more total recoveries than deaths in our country for the first time since the virus spread to all states.
Thursday brought 507 new cases in Florida, which if you’re looking for silver linings, is actually fewer than the previous day. As of this entry, there are 2,484 total in-state cases. We also had six additional deaths attributed to COVID-19 including a doctor who treated infected patients in Broward. Still, Florida ranks 7th nationally in total cases, despite having the 3rd largest population which indicates that we’re faring better than most states on a relative basis. This is also noteworthy as many Democrats, including Joe Biden, Congressional representatives Frankel and Deutch and our Agricultural Commissioner Nikki Fried have increasingly attempted to politicize the virus response in Florida.
Florida’s Surgeon General, Scott Rivkees has issued a public health advisory to Florida’s seniors, 65 and older, to stay-at-home. Governor DeSantis backs the advisory and is asking for full compliance. The range in age for positive tests in our state ranges from 2 to 96. 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.
- Broward: 505
- Miami-Dade: 654
- Palm Beach: 174
We continue to see a high rate of positive test results in Florida. To date, 8% of all tests for COVID-19 have come back positive. That’s down from 20% percent last week, which is improved news. Still, it remains much higher than the guidance provided by the Coronavirus Task Force of 1%-4% worldwide. The highest concentration of cases is coming from those between the ages of 45-54. Followed by those who are 55-64.
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