Florida Covid-19 Positivity Soars, Hurting Governor’s Case

(Bloomberg) -- Florida’s percentage of positive Covid-19 tests jumped in the latest report Tuesday, undermining Governor Ron DeSantis’s claim that the crisis isn’t getting worse.

The rate of people testing positive for the first time climbed to 16.3% for Monday, from 15% the day before. It’s now at the highest on record, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, which dates to early April.

DeSantis said Monday that reporters are too focused on case numbers, but the positivity rate “has been pretty consistent.” Indeed, it had appeared to peak in the past two weeks around 16%, but is now rising again.

Florida reported 213,794 Covid-19 cases Tuesday, which includes data through Monday. That’s up 3.6% from a day earlier, compared with an average increase of 5% in the previous seven days. The start of the week has tended to have lower case numbers as lab results are processed slowly over weekends. Seen on a rolling seven-day basis, Florida’s new cases reached a high of 61,360.

The Tuesday report included another red flag. DeSantis has used the relatively low median age of infections to downplay the recent surge in Covid-19 cases. But that rose to 40 in the latest data, up from 38 a day earlier and the highest since the state started including the statistic in its daily reports in early June.

DeSantis had used the median age to imply that mostly younger people are getting sick and that the clinical consequences would be muted.

Deaths among Florida residents, which can lag the onset of symptoms by weeks, reached 3,841, an increase of 1.7%.

Cumulative hospitalizations rose by 2.4% to 16,425. The daily increase of 380 was the most on record.

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