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.
Right now, worldwide there are 11,957,736 cases, 546,791 deaths, and 6,904,182 recoveries. In the United States, there are 3,097,084 cases, 133,972 deaths, and 1,354,863 recoveries. While in Florida, we have 213,794 cases, 3,841 deaths, and 29,425 recoveries.
In Florida, we had 7,347 newly 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. Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez signed an executive order to roll back reopening efforts today, as bars, indoor 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. This 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.
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