FL Expands Restaurant, Retail Capacity; 44,138 Confirmed Cases

TALLAHASSEE, FL — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed an order allowing restaurants and other businesses to expand their operations to 50 percent of maximum capacity as health officials reported the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the state had risen to 44,138, an increase of 928 new cases over the previous 24-hour period.

"The American people never signed up for perpetual shelter in place and we need to be able to get society functioning again," DeSantis told reporters in Jacksonville.

Starting Monday, restaurants, retail businesses, museums and now gyms can expand up to 50 percent of maximum capacity not counting employees.

"The requirement for a minimum of 6 feet between parties is superseded to the extent appropriate partitioning is in place," the order stated. "Bar counters are to remain closed to seating and outdoor seating remains available with social distancing."

Bar counters must remain closed to seating but outdoor seating remains available with social distancing.

The order also overrides any local orders that prohibit professional sports teams and venues from hosting "training, competitions, events and games." DeSantis invited teams from other states to come to Florida for their training if they are unable to train back home.

"It would be fine if people want to use facilities here," he said. "I think it's important that we get sports back up and running."

Amusement parks may also submit reopening plans to the state, including proposed dates for the resumption of operations as well as plans to protect guests and employees.

"Requests to reopen must include an endorsement letter from the county mayor, or in absence of a county mayor, from the city mayor and county administrator," the order said.

Florida counties may also request approval to operate vacation rentals under the order.

"If you tell me you're going to rent them out to people from New York City, I'm probably not going to approve that," DeSantis said. "If you are saying you are going to rent it out to people in other parts of Florida or something that would be manageable ... then I'm fine."

Fourteen Florida counties reported a combined total of 41 new deaths over the previous 24-hour period.

Miami-Dade County reported 13 new deaths. Broward County reported five deaths. Palm Beach County reported eight more deaths.

Polk County reported three more deaths. Charlotte County reported two new deaths as did Collier County.

Hillsborough County reported one new death as did Alachua County, Clay County, Escambia County, Manatee County, Pinellas County, Sarasota County and St. Lucie County.

The total number of deaths reported in the state from the virus rose to 1,917, up from 1,875 a day earlier.

Florida had a 7 percent positive test rate for the virus out of 629,461 tests that had been administered as of Friday. The number of hospitalizations in Florida increased to 7,959 from 7,749 a day earlier.

"Clearly you've seen a decline in the positivity rate since the apex of the outbreak," DeSantis added.

A total of 25,535 — or some 58 percent of the state's total cases — were in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Palm Beach County businesses partially reopened on Monday while Miami-Dade and Broward counties are set to begin to partially reopen on Monday.

Miami-Dade reported 15,011 confirmed cases as of Friday. Nearby Broward County, which includes Fort Lauderdale, reported 6,133 cases. Palm Beach County, which includes West Palm Beach, reported 4,391 cases.

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Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa, reported 1,568 cases as of Friday. Orange County, which includes Orlando, reported 1,615 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.

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

Here is the most recent data: