28,576​ Coronavirus Cases In FL; Voters Favor Social Distancing

TALLAHASSEE, FL — Florida health officials reported a total of 28,576 confirmed coronavirus cases in the state Wednesday night as a new poll of Florida voters found an overwhelming majority do not want social distancing rules relaxed just yet.

The Quinnipiac University poll said 72 percent of the registered Florida voters they surveyed favor not loosening social distancing requirements at the end of April even as a statewide task force is expected to release recommendations this week on a short-term strategy for reopening the state.

"The state's stay-at-home order is scheduled to expire at the end of the month of April, but nearly three quarters of Floridians are not ready to drop their guard," Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy said.

Half of those surveyed expected the health care crisis to last a few months while about a quarter of those surveyed expect the crisis to last more than a year. Eighteen percent of those surveyed expect the crisis to last only a few weeks.

Wednesday night's total of coronavirus cases in Florida reflects an increase of 707 new positives over the previous 24-hour-period. The number includes some tests given to the same people who require multiple tests to be considered recovered from the virus.

Sixteen of the 67 Florida counties reported additional deaths Wednesday.

Miami-Dade County reported 19 new deaths Wednesday. Broward County reported six new deaths. Palm Beach County reported four new deaths. Pinellas County reported two new deaths.

Indian River County reported one new death as did Orange County, Clay County, Citrus County, Collier County, Hillsborough County, Lee County, Leon County, Polk County, Seminole County, Sumter County and Sarasota County.

The state had a 10 percent positive test rate out of total 290,476 tests.

With 10,289 confirmed cases, Miami-Dade reported the most of any of Florida's 67 counties. Broward County, which includes Fort Lauderdale, reported 4,254 cases. Palm Beach County, which includes West Palm Beach, reported 2,413 cases.

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Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa, reported 986 cases as of Wednesday. Orange County, which includes Orlando, reported 1,258 cases.

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In an attempt to provide as much information to our readers as possible, Patch is publishing a 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.

Patch is updating this data twice each day as available from the Florida Department of Health. The counties that are reported new deaths Wednesday are shown in bold.

Here is the most recent data: