Florida's Youngest COVID-19 Deaths Are 2 Children, Both Age 11

From the Florida Phoenix:

By Diane Rado
July 10, 2020

Two children, both 11, are the youngest of COVID-19 resident deaths in Florida, according to state data — a girl from Broward County and a boy from Miami-Dade.

The deaths were reported July 1 and July 2 in a Florida Department of Health report, with no other details other than the two deaths were not travel-related.

But in a matter of months, the age range of deaths has changed substantially as the loss of lives from COVID-19 has continued in Florida. As of July 9, the total number of resident deaths are at 4,009, and the range of deaths is now age 11 to 108.

The Phoenix has been analyzing data in the state health department reports, including the number deaths in Florida and the ages of residents who have died from the new coronavirus.

In early April, the Phoenix reported the youngest death as a man from Sarasota County, age 28. He had traveled in Illinois and Florida. The death was listed as March 28, 2020, in the early days of the new coronavirus seeping into Florida.

At that time, the oldest resident who died was 100 — a man from Lee County, on the Gulf of Mexico side of Florida, north of Naples. The health department posted the death as April 3, 2020.

Less than two weeks ago, the age span of deaths was 16 — a female teen from Lee County — to 108, a woman from Miami-Dade, according to a Phoenix analysis of health department data from late June.

But data reported by the state on July 9 showed the span now at age 11 to 108. (The death of the woman in Miami-Dade County, at age 108, was the same in the latest span.)

With younger people dying, the average age of COVID-19 resident deaths in Florida has dipped, the Phoenix found. Less than two weeks ago, the average was 77.7; now it is 77.3.

Overall, 61 of 67 counties in Florida have at least one COVID-19 death, but six counties are still reporting no deaths. Those counties, mostly in northern Florida, are Franklin, Gilchrist, Gulf, Holmes, Lafayette and Okeechobee.

The largest number of deaths, 1,092, are in Miami-Dade, followed by Palm Beach, 578, Broward, 427, Pinellas, 221, Hillsborough, 182, Lee, 176, Manatee, 138, Polk, 127, Sarasota, 100.

This story was originally published by the Florida Phoenix. For more stories from the Florida Phoenix, visit FloridaPhoenix.com.