FL Coronavirus Cases Increase To 510,389 With 7,747 Deaths

JACKSONVILLE, FL — The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Florida grew to 510,389 Thursday as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he doesn't think high school sports should be suspended if one person tests positive for the coronavirus.

"We're not going to put every high school athlete in an NBA-style bubble. That's just not feasible," the governor told reporters during a stop in Jacksonville. "If one person develops symptoms you take them out, isolate them. But what I would not do, is just if one person gets ill — and they're isolated and they test — to then shut everything else down."

DeSantis pointed to the experience of European soccer. "I think if everyone else is fine, you got to just keep going," he said. "I think that's what the Europeans have done with the soccer, and I think that could work well here."

He said high school athletes are probably among the best suited to fight off the virus. "Somebody who is playing at Suwannee , who is a wide receiver, who is working out every day is just going to be at less risk than somebody who may have multiple comorbidities, and be in like a long-term care facility."

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State health officials reported 7,650 new cases of the virus Thursday following a weekend in which many testing facilities were shut down ahead of then Hurricane Isaias.

Florida health officials reported a total of 7,747 deaths from the virus Thursday, up from 7,627 deaths a day earlier. That's an increase of 120 new deaths over the previous 24-hour period, but well under Florida's record of 257 new deaths last Friday. State officials reported another 18 deaths involving non-Florida residents who died in the state.

Health officials reported 29,131 hospitalizations up from 28,573 hospitalizations over the previous 24 hours. That represents an increase of 558 more hospitalizations than reported a day earlier, which marks one of the highest one-day increases in hospitalizations since the start of the pandemic.

Thirty-four of Florida's 67 counties reported 122 new deaths Thursday — two more than the county-by-county listing below — though Broward County reported one fewer death.

That compares with 221 new deaths Wednesday (health officials reported 220), 245 new deaths on Tuesday, 74 new deaths Monday, 63 new deaths Sunday, 179 new deaths Saturday, 270 new deaths Friday (state health officials reported 257) and 253 new deaths last Thursday.

Miami-Dade County reported nine new deaths. Palm Beach County reported 10 new deaths. Orange County reported 25 new deaths. Marion County reported seven new deaths as did St. Lucie County. Lee County reported six new deaths as did Polk County.

Escambia County reported four new deaths as did Hernando County, Highlands County and Seminole County. Martin County reported three new deaths as did Volusia County,
Brevard County reported two new deaths as did Citrus County, Lake County, Leon County, Liberty County, Osceola County, Pinellas County, Santa Rosa County and St. Johns County.

Clay County reported one new death as did Collier County, Duval County, Hillsborough County, Indian River County, Jackson County, Manatee County, Okaloosa County, Okeechobee County, Putnam County, Sarasota County and Walton County.

Miami-Dade, which includes Miami and Miami Beach, reported 127,677 cases of the virus as of Thursday. Nearby Broward County, which includes Fort Lauderdale, reported 60,058 cases. Palm Beach County, which includes Palm Beach, West Palm and Boca Raton, reported 35,283 cases.

Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa, reported 31,563 cases. Orange County, which includes Orlando, reported 30,776 cases.

In an effort to provide as much information to our readers as possible, Patch is publishing the following county-by-county breakdown of the coronavirus cases in Florida's 67 counties, along with the median age of patients, the number of hospital cases by county and the number of deaths.

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Florida reported a 13.21 percent positive test rate for the virus Thursday as the number of tests reached 3,863,276.

Patch updates this chart once each day based on data provided by the Florida Department of Health. The counties that reported new deaths on Thursday are shown in bold.

Here is the most recent data: