Florida sees biggest one-day spike in coronavirus cases

On the eve of Florida allowing more expanded business openings, health officials reported Thursday that the state hit its greatest single-day total of coronavirus since the pandemic hit.

The 1,419 increase in coronavirus cases – bringing the state’s cumulative total to 60,183 cases – was the largest one-day spike in records going back to late March, when the pandemic deepened in Florida.

The previous high daily count was 1,416 cases on April 17. The state was then still on tighter, stay-at-home orders under Gov. Ron DeSantis.

In addition, another 41 deaths were reported Thursday, bringing the overall toll of the disease to 2,607 fatalities in Florida.

Alachua County also saw a bump in new cases, with three positive tests on Wednesday, breaking a three-day string of just one new case per day. The cumulative total stands at 387, including one case added Thursday morning.

The total number of related deaths continues to stand at seven, with no COVID-19 death here since April 23. Six of those deaths are associated with long-term care facilities.

A total of 22,425 tests have been conducted so far, with 2% positive results.

Among Alachua County’s coronavirus cases, 303 are in Gainesville, 18 in Newberry, 15 in Alachua, nine in Hawthorne, eight in High Springs, four in Waldo and Tioga, three in Micanopy, one in LaCross, Santa Fe and Archer.

It’s been a challenging week in Florida. On Wednesday, DeSantis announced that the state would allow bars and movie theaters to reopen at half-capacity and that retail stores and gyms could expand to full capacity, with sanitizing and social distancing in place, outside South Florida. Yet the state’s daily caseload rose by 1,317, the biggest leap since April 23.

While DeSantis allowed the state to begin a gradual reopening May 4 and has continued to ease back on restrictions, increased interactions among Floridians is certainly a contributor to the elevated case load.

DeSantis spokeswoman Helen Ferre, though, pointed to stepped-up testing levels in recent weeks that have yielded a lower percentage positive of cases of COVID-19.

“The total number should not be measured in a vacuum,” Ferre said, adding that only 3.6% and 4.5% of tests reported positive the past two days, on the low end of the range of the past two weeks.

The 38,220 test results reported Wednesday also topped the 31,800 daily average that epidemiologists say the state should be reaching to contain the virus.

With a cumulative 1.1 million people tested, Florida has been reporting its largest number of results the past three weeks, but still has only topped the 31,800 daily goal on six days over the past three months.

“Everything points toward an increase. I don’t know if I’d call it spiking,” said Ira Longini, a biostatistician and epidemiologist at the University of Florida. “But we definitely have an increasing trend now, and that probably will continue.”

He added, “Now we’re seeing the impact of the reduction of social distancing. None of it is surprising.”

With beaches getting more crowded, backyard barbecues going on and back-to-school steps already being pondered, DeSantis has acknowledged that many of Florida’s hastily established testing sites aren’t drawing sufficient crowds.

The governor and state public health officials, though, have not outlined any ideas for a public information campaign — TV ads and the like — emphasizing the importance of testing and subsequent contact tracing, where those who associated with someone with the virus can be identified and urged to self-isolate for two weeks to reduce spread of the disease.