Florida sets new single-day record for coronavirus cases, adding 2,783

Florida set a new record for single-day coronavirus cases, with 2,783 infections recorded Tuesday. That brings the state to more than 80,000 cases since the pandemic began locally more than three months ago.

The state also added 55 deaths, bringing the total to 3,085. Hospitalizations of residents and non-residents increased by 191 people.

State health officials and government leaders have held firm that the reason for more infections is because of expanded testing. Still, ProPublica, a news agency that has been tracking coronavirus cases as states reopened, points to the number of positive tests per capita in Florida increasing upward and upward.

What’s the picture statewide?

On Saturday, Florida had its third record-breaking day in a row for new cases. Numbers reported by the state tend to dip on Sundays and Mondays, and come back higher on Tuesdays. That held true this week.

Florida now has 80,109 recorded coronavirus infections. About 1.46 million people have been tested, and of those tests, 5.5 percent have come back positive, a slight uptick from a few days ago.

Tuesday is the 14th consecutive day with more than 1,000 new cases. There have been 12,738 recorded cases since Thursday, when the state started hitting record highs.

What’s the picture in Tampa Bay?

Tampa Bay recorded 11 new coronavirus-related deaths and 473 new cases on Tuesday.

Pinellas County added five deaths, Hillsborough added four, and Manatee and Pasco County both had one death.

Those deaths include a 78-year-old Hillsborough man, a 93-year-old Hillsborough woman, a 103-year-old Hillsborough woman, a 90-year-old Hillsborough woman, a 56-year-old Manatee man, a 72-year-old Pasco woman, a 79-year-old Pinellas woman, a 96-year-old Pinellas woman, a 102-year-old Pinellas woman, an 80-year-old Pinellas woman and a 93-year-old Pinellas woman.

In Hillsborough, local leaders have talked about continuing evidence of community spread but said the increasing cases were no reason to retreat. On Tuesday, Hillsborough added 203 cases. Data presented by Dr. Douglas Holt, the county director for the state Department of Health, shows that cases among people age 18 to 34 are increasing.

As of the latest counts, Hillsborough has 4,029 cases and 106 deaths; Pinellas has 2,523 cases and 108 deaths; Polk has 1,566 cases and 75 deaths; Manatee has 1,483 cases and 118 deaths; Pasco has 560 cases and 17 deaths; Citrus has 152 cases and 12 deaths; Hernando has 146 cases and six deaths.

What’s coronavirus look like for children?

Along with reports detailing coronavirus in nursing homes, prisons and county-by-county, the Department of Health has released pediatric reports to see how coronavirus is impacting minors.

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About 4 percent of all statewide coronavirus cases come from people age 17 and under, according to the latest report. There have been no deaths of someone age 17 and under, but there have been 103 hospitalizations.

Coronavirus is most deadly for people who are older or immunocompromised, and for the most part children have fared well with the virus.

However, Florida has recorded 10 cases of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children, or MIS-C, a condition where body parts and organs in children can become inflamed. Many children with the illness also had COVID-19, according to the CDC.

None of the children with cases are in the Tampa Bay area. The youngest child to face MIS-C is a 1-year-old boy in Miami-Dade County. The oldest is a 17-year-old girl in Collier County.

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