FL Surpasses 80,000 Coronavirus Cases With Largest One-Day Spike

TALLAHASSEE, FL — The total number of coronavirus cases in Florida hit a new milestone Tuesday, surpassing the 80,000 mark, as the state experienced its largest one-day spike since officials began tracking the outbreak.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis blamed the increase largely on increased testing of people who are asymptomatic and insisted he had no plans to roll back the state's reopening.

"I think the negative effects of that would far exceed any of the gains you're getting," the governor said. "You have to have society function. You have to be able to have a cohesive society. That's the best way to be able to deal with the impacts of the virus, particularly when you have a virus that disproportionately impacts one segment of society."

Health officials reported 2,783 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday after reporting 1,758 new cases on Monday and more than 2,000 new cases on both Saturday and Sunday.

Fifteen Florida counties reported 55 new deaths Tuesday over the previous 24-hour period. That compares to eight new deaths Monday, six new deaths Sunday, 48 new deaths Saturday, 30 news deaths Friday, 47 new deaths Thursday, 36 on Wednesday and 54 new deaths last Tuesday.

Health officials reported 191 new hospitalizations from the coronavirus across Florida over the previous 24-hour period.

Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber told his residents there has also been a slight increase in hospitalizations around the Miami area, which is considered the epicenter of Florida's outbreak along with nearby Broward County and Palm Beach County.

"While the number of positives can be changed simply by testing more people or trend lines can be distorted due to inconsistencies in reporting, the need for hospitalizations is inviolate," Gelber said in a message emailed to residents. "Because of the lag time it takes to become infected and become sick enough to need hospitalization is often weeks, this is a number we need to watch very carefully."

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The total number of Florida cases climbed to 80,109 on Tuesday, up from 77,326 a day earlier. The state's death toll rose to 2,993 from 2,938 a day earlier. Polk County reported one fewer death.

Miami-Dade reported 21 new deaths Tuesday. Palm Beach County reported nine new deaths. Pinellas County reported five new deaths. Hillsborough County and Lee County each reported four new deaths. Duval County reported two new deaths as did St. Lucie County.

Hardee County reported its first death from the virus. Brevard County reported one new death as did Gadsden County. Manatee County, Orange County, Pasco County, Sarasota County and Volusia County.

Miami-Dade reported 22,741 cases of the virus Tuesday. Nearby Broward County, which includes Fort Lauderdale, reported 9,498 cases. Palm Beach County, which includes West Palm Beach, reported 9,262 cases. Those three South Florida counties are considered the epicenter of Florida's ourbreak.

Florida had a 5.5 percent positive test rate for the virus based on a total of 1,461,297 tests that had been administered as of Tuesday. The number of hospitalizations in Florida increased to 12,206 from 12,015 a day earlier.

Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa, reported 4,029 cases. Orange County, which includes Orlando, reported 3,437 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 Tuesday are shown in bold.

Here is the most recent data: