This update is designed to put everything into perspective with straight-forward facts. As a reminder, according to the Task Force, those over the age of 60 are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. Officials stated that the symptoms are least severe with those who are younger. This is different than most viruses which are most dangerous for those oldest and youngest. The task force also indicated the average age of death for someone due to the virus is 80.
As of today, in Florida, we have 216 instate cases and 7 deaths. In the U.S. 6,524 cases, 116 deaths, and 106 recovered. Worldwide, 198,959 cases, 7,991 deaths, and 82,779 recovered.
The United States remains 8th in the world in total cases. We’ve had nearly 1,800 new positive cases in the US in the past 24 hours along with 23 additional deaths. The most disconcerting aspect of the virus at this point remains the death/recovery rate based on closed cases. It has risen to 9%. We’ve seen the death rate rise as the reach of the virus grows. The common pattern with the virus spreading is an increase in death rates with vulnerable people early on followed by improving rates over time as people begin to recover.
Tuesday brought a whole host of new restrictions to our state including the outright closing of bars and night clubs for 30 days, restaurants ordered to half capacity, along with crowd restrictions at beaches of no more than ten people in a group to reign in spring breakers and more. It also brought many new positive tests as Monday’s expanded testing has started revealing many more Floridians who had the virus but hadn’t yet been accounted for. Nearly as many tests were conducted in Florida on Monday as in the entire time leading up to it. With test results taking 24 to 36 hours, some of those earlier results showed a range in age for positive tests in our state now from 17 to 89.
We're increasingly seeing younger people diagnosed in our state, which is why Governor DeSantis has been especially concerned about Spring Break crowds and aggregation at bars. Broward remains the most active county. 51% of all of Florida’s cases currently are in the tri-county area. 55 in Broward, 43 in Miami-Dade, and 13 in Palm Beach.
In the early going of testing, we’re seeing a really high rate of positive tests in Florida. To date, 21% of all test results for COVID-19 have come back positive. It remains much higher than the guidance provided by the Coronavirus Task Force. Nationally and internationally which have ranged from 1% to 4%. There are 1,061 outstanding tests awaiting results, nearly as many as had been conducted in all days previously in Florida and expect these numbers to increase considerably over the next day.
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