FL Coronavirus Surge: 21 Counties Report Median Ages Under 40

TALLAHASSEE, FL — The number of coronavirus cases in Florida continued to surge Thursday with 5,004 new cases as 21 Florida counties reported median ages of people testing positive under 40, according to a Patch review.

A review of Florida Department of Health data also revealed 42 of Florida's 67 counties reported younger median ages of people testing positive for the virus between Monday and Thursday. Only three Florida counties reported higher median ages in that period.

Twenty Florida counties reported median ages of people testing positive in their 30s while Leon County reported a median age of 27, meaning half the people testing positive in that county are under age 27 and the other half are over it.

The governors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut imposed a two-week, self-quarantine that took effect Thursday on travelers from Florida and other states experiencing a surge.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said about 20 percent of the new positive test cases involve people who are otherwise asymptomatic. He acknowledged most of the new positive tests in the state are of people under 40.

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"We are where we are," DeSantis said Thursday in Tampa. "I didn't say we were going to go on to the next phase. We've done a step-by-step approach and it was an approach that's been reflective of the unique situation of each area."

DeSantis said South Florida has been on a slower reopening schedule than the rest of the state.

"They also are having the biggest outbreak still even with that slower schedule," DeSantis said. "We never anticipated necessarily doing anything different in terms of the next phase at this point anyways."

The total number of positive tests rose to 114,018 from 109,014 over the previous 24-hour period. The previous Florida one-day record of 5,511 new coronavirus cases was set on Wednesday.

Eighteen Florida counties reported 46 new deaths Thursday. That compares with 45 new deaths Wednesday, 65 new deaths Tuesday, 12 deaths Monday, 17 deaths Sunday, 40 deaths on Saturday, 43 new deaths Friday and 43 new deaths last Thursday.

The total number of deaths from the coronavirus rose to 3,327 from 3,281 a day earlier.

Miami-Dade reported nine new deaths. Broward County reported one new death. Palm Beach County reported four new deaths.

Hillsborough County reported six new deaths. Pinellas County reported five new deaths. Polk County reported four new deaths.

Collier County reported three new deaths. Duval County reported two more deaths as did Orange County and St. Lucie County.

Dixie County reported one new death as did Highlands County, Indian River County, Lee County, Manatee County, Martin County, Sarasota County, Suwannee County,

Health officials reported 13,775 total hospitalizations in Florida, up from 13,574 over the previous 24-hour period. That represents an increase of 201 new hospitalizations.

Miami-Dade reported 28,664 cases of the virus as of Thursday. Nearby Broward County, which includes Fort Lauderdale, reported 12,584 cases. Palm Beach County, which includes West Palm Beach, reported 11,840 cases.

Those three South Florida counties are still considered the epicenter of Florida's outbreak but other parts of the state now account for a greater share of cases.

Florida had a 6.6 percent positive test rate for the virus Thursday based on 1,721,812 tests. The percentage of positive cases has also experienced an increase over the past week.

Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa, reported 7,329 cases. Orange County, which includes Orlando, reported 6,786 cases.

In an attempt 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.

Related:

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• Miami's Famed South Beach Reopens With Social Distancing: PHOTOS

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: