This daily update is designed to put everything into perspective with straight-forward facts. Wednesday brought more diagnosed cases and more deaths than any other day, though, there remained room for optimism. The rate of growth of new cases continues to slow around the world and in the United States. In fact, Dr. Anthony Fauci suggested we might begin to turn the corner on the coronavirus outbreak after this week. This includes new estimates from the coronavirus task force suggesting the US death toll will be 60,000, rather than the 100,000-240,000 they recently warned of occurring.
We also learned that the Trump administration is working on a plan for targeted responses to reopening the economy across the country. While nothing notably different is expected through April 30th, the current date of the National Emergency declaration, there’s new optimism that certain regions of the country may begin to resume life in the new normal in early May. Given that Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams had prepared us for potentially the worst week of our lives, the start of it could have been worse.
As of this entry, there are 15,698 cases and 323 deaths in Florida. In the U.S., there are 435,160 cases, 14,797 deaths, and 22,891 recoveries and worldwide there are 1,521,030 cases, 88,565 deaths, and 331,132 recoveries.
We experienced more than 86k additional cases worldwide Wednesday, with 34k new cases in the US and 1,940 deaths, all-new daily highs around the world and in the U.S. The death rate remained at 21% for a fourth consecutive day. This after having reached a low of 6% about a month ago. We’ve seen the death rate rise as the reach of the virus grows.
In Florida, we had 951 new cases and 27 deaths on Wednesday. We crossed the 15,000th case and 300th death threshold but the news was generally encouraging. It marked the third consecutive day of a decline in new diagnosed cases in Florida, and the 27 deaths are 15 fewer than the previous day. There was generally encouraging news throughout the state, especially in South Florida where we account for over half of the cases in Florida. Additionally, new estimates show that Florida isn’t expected to have a bed shortage, even during the peak of the outbreak which is believed to be about twelve days away. Current bed usage is under 50% in Florida.
Florida remained 8th in the country in total cases and 10th in deaths despite being the third most populous state. We’re performing far better than most states on a relative basis. We’re also testing more aggressively than most states, adjusted for population, making the performance of our state even more impressive. 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: 2,265
- Miami-Dade: 5,461
- Palm Beach: 1,224
We continue to see a high rate of positive test results in Florida. To date, 11% of all tests for COVID-19 have come back positive. The further into testing we go the more likely the newest diagnosed cases are new cases. This reinforces the importance of adhering to the warnings of public officials including social distancing and safer-at-home declarations. The highest concentration of cases is coming from those between the ages of 45-54.
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