All 50 states are finally in some phase of reopening and the news and trends continued in a positive direction Wednesday across the country and in Florida. Yes, the headlines are about the 5 million diagnosed cases. Yes, Russia and Brazil are still seeing a rapid increase in new cases but otherwise there’s a lot to feel good about if you view what’s happening in context. We’re now seeing an average of new cases that’s near the average daily case counts in late March. The biggest difference now being testing that is more than double what it was during that time. This is reflected in the positive test rate which continues to hit new lows nationwide.
Right now, worldwide, there are 5,056,608 cases, 328,167 deaths, and 2,006,312 recoveries. Nationally, we have 1,586,583 cases, 94,686 deaths, and 366,807 recoveries. In Florida, there are 47,471 cases and 2,096 deaths.
In Florida, we had 527 newly diagnosed cases and 44 deaths recorded Wednesday. The new case count was about even with Tuesday’s number and is lower than the recent trend line. Florida’s peak day for cases was April 17th with greater than 1,400 cases diagnosed that day. Florida remains 9th in the country in total cases and has fallen to 11th in deaths. We’re the third most populous state. Florida’s performing far better than most states on a relative basis. We’ve also tested more aggressively than most states, with only New York having tested more than Florida. More than half of all of Florida’s cases remain in the tri-county area with Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach having the most cases in the state in that order.
The overall positive test rate in Florida dropped to another new low of 6.1%. That's down from a peak of 11%. As a reminder, the newest diagnosed cases are new cases obtained through community spread. This reinforces the importance of adhering to the warnings of public officials including social distancing and wearing masks in public.
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