Florida reports more than 1,000 coronavirus cases for the fifth day in a row

TAMPA — For the fifth day in a row, the number of positive coronavirus cases reported by the state has increased by more than 1,000 people — a disturbing trend that Florida hasn’t seen since early April when the respiratory infection was at its peak.

According to Sunday’s updated tally, 63,938 people in the state have tested positive for COVID-19, the respiratory infection caused by the coronavirus. That’s an increase of 1,180 new cases over Saturday’s numbers. Sunday’s report also announced 13 more deaths attributed to the virus, bringing the coronoavirus’ statewide death toll to 2,786. One of those deaths occurred in Polk County.

State health officials attributed the rising numbers to increased testing throughout the state.

Most of the state is now entering Phase 2 of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ step-by-step plan for restarting Florida’s stalled economy. But officials and business owners fear the surging numbers, coming as thousands of people take to the streets to protest the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, could discourage the public from venturing out yet.

What’s happening across the state?

While the number of positive test results is growing across the state, state health officials note that the percentage of tests that turn out positive for COVID-19 is declining. From midnight Saturday to midnight Sunday, the Department of Health received test results for than 57,082 individuals — a sizeable jump from the 11,000 or so test results processed June 1. But only 3.7 percent of these tests results were positive for the virus, according to state records.

On June 1, roughly 8 percent were positive for coronavirus, the records show.

Since the first Florida cases of coronavirus were announced to the public March 1, the Department of Health has tested more than 1.2 million people for the virus. Overall, the state reports that 5.3 percent of them have come back positive. Sunday’s update added another 41,999 coronavirus tests to the daily tally with no results reported yet for another 1,161 test kits.

In another measure of the coronavirus’ impact, the Department of Health reported that 10,942 people have been hospitalized statewide for treatment of the COVID-19 infection since March 1. That’s an additional 51 hospitalizations since Saturday, raising the overall count to 10,942.

More than half of the positive COVID-19 cases being tracked by state health officials are in South Florida, with Miami-Dade County continuing to lead the state in both numbers of confirmed cases and coronavirus-related deaths. According to state data, the number of people infected in Miami-Dade has increased to 19,547 and the virus has claimed as many 765 lives.

What’s happening in Tampa Bay?

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Among the seven counties that make up the Tampa Bay area, Hillsborough County continues to lead in both the number of infected people and the number of deaths attributed to the virus. On Sunday the county’s cases increased by 105, bringing the overall number of tracked coronavirus cases to 2,748.

That’s 1,164 more cases than reported by the second-highest county in the region, Pinellas with 1,584 cases. The 24-hour increase in cases for Hillsborough County was roughly double that of Pinellas — 105 compared to 52.

In Hillsborough, preliminary results of an ongoing public opinion survey found concerns among the 10,000 respondents about local businesses reopening. The most common worries were people not following social distancing guidelines (63 percent); people not wearing face coverings (53 percent); and people not self-quarantining when they feel ill (52 percent).

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