This daily update is designed to put everything into perspective with straight-forward facts. On Thursday CDC data confirmed COVID-19 has become the leading cause of death in the United States. A week ago, COVID-19 was the third leading killer. This virus is currently responsible for about two-hundred more daily deaths than heart disease and three hundred more than all cancers. A new CDC study also confirmed that children are less likely to be severely impacted by the virus, while also shedding light on how many children are severely impacted. In the study of 150,000 COVID-19 patients in the United States, 33% of adults, across all ages, contracting the virus required hospitalization compared to 20% of children. This illustrates the threat the virus poses to people of all ages.
We’re now under a week from the projected national peak in cases, which is expected to be next Thursday, though Dr. Fauci has stated it’s possible we begin to turn the corner as early as this weekend. 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.
In Florida, we have 16,826 cases and 371 deaths. In the U.S. there are 468,895 cases, 16,697 deaths, and 25,928 recoveries. Around the world, there are 1,521,030 cases, 88,565 deaths, and 331,132 recoveries. We experienced more than 86k additional cases worldwide Wednesday, with 33k new cases in the US and 1,900 deaths. Those are near-identical totals to the prior day adding to optimism that we’re at or the near peak of cases in the United States. Still, the most disconcerting aspect of the virus remains the death/recovery rate based on closed cases.
Over the past 24-hours, we added 1,128 new cases and 48 deaths in Florida, both daily highs for our state. This illustrates that the virus hasn’t yet peaked here despite encouraging signs earlier in the week. We also now have more than 2,000 Floridians hospitalized with COVID-19, though bed capacity remains below 50%, and estimates still show enough capacity for the projected increase in cases through April 21st. The most recent forecasting from the University of Washington’s model, calling for that April 21st peak in Florida, was backed by University of South Florida researchers yesterday.
Florida remained 8th in the country in total cases and fell to 11th 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. This is all encouraging news. 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: 2,480
- Miami-Dade: 5,898
- Palm Beach: 1,333
We continue to see a high rate of positive test results in Florida. To date, nearly 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.
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