Florida Covid-19 Cases Rise 2.7%, Topping 7-Day Daily Average
Florida Covid-19 Cases Rise 2.7%, Topping 7-Day Daily Average
(Bloomberg) --
Florida new coronavirus cases rose faster than the one-week average for a fifth straight day.
Cases increased to 75,568 on Sunday, up 2.7% from a day earlier and above the average increase of 2.3% in the previous seven days. Deaths among Florida residents reached 2,931, a 0.2% increase.
Florida is among more than 20 states where the pace of new infections is rising, as officials take steps to reopen businesses and the economy after lengthy lockdowns to control the spread of the coronavirus. Texas, Arizona and Washington state have also reported higher daily case levels.
Officials have been concerned too about the widespread protests after the death of George Floyd on May 25, but they say it is still to early to tell if that has contributed to an increase in cases.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has downplayed concerns about the pace of the increase, saying as recently as Friday it reflected more testing and isolated outbreaks in long-term care facilities, prisons and agriculture communities.
Florida has one of the country’s biggest 65-and-over populations and it’s fared surprisingly well so far. But the rising numbers are raising concerns about DeSantis’s efforts to reopen the economy, which started May 4. At this point, most businesses are back in operation, including bars, retailers and even some theme parks.
The new positivity rate -- people testing positive for the first time among overall tests in a day -- was 4.46% on Saturday, the lowest in five days.
Hospitalizations rose by 68, pushing the total who have been hospitalized to 11,942 since the crisis began. Seen on a seven-day rolling basis, they’d been on a steady decline until last week when they began to rise again, though slightly.
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.