FL Coronavirus: People Urged To Be Cautious On Easter, Passover

TALLAHASSEE, FL — The number of coronavirus cases in Florida rose to 13,629 Monday night as Gov. Ron DeSantis urged Floridians to maintain social distancing during Easter and Passover observances.

"Our message is basically adhere to social distancing guidelines," DeSantis told reporters Monday. "I think what a lot of churches have done in terms of online services — some have even done outdoors, where people just stay in their car. I think that they have been innovative, and I think that, that will ultimately be something that matters to a lot to people."

The number of cases increased by 1,279 in Florida from the previous evening as the number of deaths rose from 221 to 254. Florida's total included 1,719 hospitalizations.

The state has a 10.8 percent positive test rate out of 126,048 tests.

DeSantis, who has not banned religious gatherings, said that a large gathering at this time could become a "super spreader" of the virus.

"We want people during this time to be spiritually together but to remain socially distant," he said. "Please keep God close but please keep COVID-19 away. "

A Florida pastor in the Tampa area was arrested last week after being accused of hosting two packed church services in violation of executive orders to prevent the spread of coronavirus. See FL Pastor Arrested After Hosting Services Amid Coronavirus Crisis

DeSantis also said state officials installed 72 additional computer servers over the weekend and trained hundreds of state workers to help process unemployment claims as the online system simply has been unable to keep up with an unprecedented demand.

"We were in a situation where people have lost their jobs. They're looking for relief and they're having a lot of difficulty," the governor said. "Some people were on the site. It was timing out. You'd go hours and hours upon end. It was just totally unacceptable."

He said the system can now handle up to 120,000 simultaneous connections by people filing claims.

"Recently we've been in the 40,000 to 60,000 connection range," he said. "There was a redundancy built in so that if the system went down the backup would take hold and people could still use it. It turns out that that redundancy, the backup, was never actually connected to the system. Last night they were able to actually connect the backup to the system."

He said 62,000 people had submitted claims by 10 p.m. Sunday when the site went down for maintenance. That number was up from 17,000 the previous week.

"The reason there was only 17,000 is because people were having a tough time getting on," he acknowledged. "The site was down more than it was even up at given times."

With 4,671 cases, Miami-Dade County had the most confirmed cases of any of Florida's 67 counties as of Monday. Broward County, which has a much smaller population than Miami-Dade, had 2,075 cases. Palm Beach County, which is just north of Broward County, had 1,082 cases.

Don’t miss updates about precautions in Florida as they are announced. Sign up for Patch news alerts and newsletters.

Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa, had 575 cases. Orange County, which includes Orlando, had 754 cases as of Monday night.

Miami-Dade reported seven new deaths Monday. Lee County reported three new deaths. Manatee County, Palm Beach County and Sumter County each reported two more deaths.

Broward County, Collier County, Desoto County, Orange County, Polk County, St. Lucie County and Volusia County each reported one new death.

Hamilton County reported its first case of the virus on Monday, leaving only four Florida counties without any cases.

Related:

• Florida Sheriff's Deputy Dies From Coronavirus
• FL Governor Suspends Foreclosures, Evictions Over Coronavirus
• Cruise Ships With 4 Dead Arrive In Florida
• Florida Coronavirus: Stay-At-Home Order By Governor
• Coronavirus Fears May Be Keeping Us Awake At Night
• Florida Coronavirus Self-Quarantine Order Extended To New Orleans
• President Trump Declares Major Disaster In FL From Coronavirus
• Florida Coronavirus: Special Grocery Shopping Hours For Seniors

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 average age of patients, the number of hospital cases by county and the number of deaths.

Here is the most recent data released Monday.