COVID-19 is spreading across Florida faster than anywhere except Arizona, and deaths in the state will likely surpass 4,000 by Thursday.
On a per-capita basis, Florida has logged 314 cases per 100,000 residents over the last week, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Only Arizona fares worse, with 426 cases per 100,000 residents. States across the South and Southwest have seen the most growth per capita.
Florida, the third most populous state, leads the nation with the most new cases overall over the past seven days, according to the CDC data, and is trailed closely by California, Texas and Arizona.
Florida recorded 9,989 new cases of the coronavirus on Wednesday, according to the state Department of Health. South Florida, which accounts for 29% of Florida’s population, reported 4,695 new cases in the past day, or 47% of the total.
Broward County: reported 1,186 new cases Wednesday, bringing the total to 23,781. A total of 441 people have died, one more since the day before.
Palm Beach County: 593 new cases were reported, bringing the total to 18,231. A total of 583 people have died, six more since Tuesday.
Miami-Dade County: 2,916 new cases, bringing the total to 53,974. A total of 1,083 people have died, which is 11 more than Tuesday. Miami-Dade has 13% of the state’s population but 23% of the coronavirus cases and 27% of the deaths.
Federal officials will be taking a close look at the spike in case in Florida that began in June and has continued with no signs of slowing down, Dr. Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus response coordinator, said during a news conference Wednesday.
She said the increase is also being seen in California, Texas and Arizona, similar to how spikes earlier in the pandemic in New York arose later in Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia. “Whatever happened in Florida, happened across the Sun Belt,” Birx said.
Dr. Mary Jo Trepka, chairwoman of the Epidemiology Department of Florida International University, said there are several possible explanations. “The obvious one is that it all corresponded with the reopening.”
Trepka said that as Florida opened up in early- to mid-May, a lot of people congregated closely in bars, beaches and homes. She also noted large protests, Memorial Day weekend celebrations and graduation parties.
“I think all of those things probably contributed,” she said.
Two weeks after most of Florida had reopened by May 18, cases were climbing again.
After a steady period of under 1,000 cases a day in May, they began to break 1,000 new cases a day regularly in early June. Then they began to multiply, going from 2,581 new cases on June 13 to 5,511 new cases on June 24. By July Fourth, they reached a pandemic-high of 11,458 cases in one day.
A grim threshold
On Wednesday, the state also recorded 48 new coronavirus-related deaths, bringing the total number since the pandemic to 3,991. The state will almost certainly surpass the grim 4,000 mark by Thursday ? a glaring toll for a virus that only began claiming lives in Florida back in March.
Florida’s overall death toll places it among the top 10 states since the pandemic began. But on a per-capita basis, Florida has a smaller death rate than most.
New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts track above 100 deaths per 100,000 residents. Florida has less than 20 deaths per 100,000 residents.
Where Florida is outpacing the field is in new cases and hospitalizations, which have both been on a steady, upward climb. Experts say the double-barred trend could also cause Florida’s low death rate to rise in the coming weeks.
Florida has logged 66,789 new coronavirus cases in the past seven days, according to the CDC ? surpassing California’s total of 61,224, Texas’ total of 57,574 and Arizona’s total of 30,561.
Hospitalizations also have been on the rise in both the state and tri-county region. On Wednesday, the state lodged another 335 new hospitalizations over a 24-hour period — the second straight day that number breached 300. South Florida reported 94 more hospitalizations during the same period.
Trepka said both trends are concerning — especially given the rising median age of newly confirmed cases. On June 24, the median age of new coronavirus cases was 33 years old, according to state records. On Monday, the median age hit 40.
Trepka said more cases in older adults could further stress the health care system and potentially create a domino effect that leads to more deaths.
“Usually, the first thing that happens is the cases, the second thing that happens is the hospitalizations and then followed by the deaths,” she said.
In response to this increase in hospitalizations, Gov. Ron DeSantis said he would send 100 nurses and other medical personnel to Jackson Health to help Miami’s public hospital system cope with the surge of coronavirus cases.
Jackson Memorial Hospital, the system’s largest hospital, has seen its resources stressed during the surge in COVID-19 cases, with the percentage of available intensive care beds falling to 11% Wednesday, according to state records.
On Wednesday, Vice President Mike Pence said the federal government would be deploying over 1,000 doctors and other medical personnel to Florida, California, Texas and Arizona in the coming days. He did not specify how many would go to Florida.
Testing trends
On Wednesday, the state reported 51,122 tests, an increase of more than 15,000 tests from what they reported on Tuesday.
Thus far there have been 223,783 reported cases of the coronavirus since the pandemic began.
The positivity rate for Wednesday’s numbers was 19.5%, a decline from a pandemic high of 20.8% on Tuesday. For South Florida, that number was 23%.
The state’s positive testing rate for the entire pandemic is 9.6%, dangerously close to the 10% threshold that Gov. DeSantis has said he hopes the state can stay under. The positive testing rate for South Florida during the entire pandemic is 12%.
As of Wednesday, 2,322,389 people have been tested for the virus in Florida.
The number of Florida residents who have tested positive: 220,492. Another 3,291 non-residents have also tested positive. Thus far, 2,096,424 people have tested negative.
Deaths
Statewide: The official COVID-19 death total for Florida reported Wednesday is 3,991.
Senior care: At least 1,994 of the state’s coronavirus-related deaths (50%) have occurred in nursing homes and long-term care facilities. Broward accounted for 168 deaths or 8%. Dade accounted for 535 deaths, or 27%, and Palm Beach County had 240 deaths, or 12%.
Hospitalizations
Statewide: A total of 17,068 people have been treated in Florida hospitals for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.
South Florida: Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties have had a total of 8,621 people hospitalized.
As of 2 p.m. Wednesday, Broward had less than 18% of their hospital beds available. Miami had less than 23% available, and Palm Beach County had less than 26% of its beds available.
Global view
U.S.: The coronavirus death toll in the United States reached 131,521 on Wednesday at 2:00 p.m., according to the Coronavirus Resource Center at Johns Hopkins University.
The United States reported 2.99 million cases, the highest total in the world. Death tolls remained highest in New York State, with 32,243, and New Jersey, with 15,281.
Worldwide: The global total reached 11.8 million cases Tuesday, with at least 545,485 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins.
The U.S. has 4.3% of the world’s population and 25% of the world’s cases.
Andrew Boryga, aboryga@sunsentinel.com, 954-356-4533 or Twitter: @borywrites
