Floridians Celebrate Virtual Easter Amid 19,895 Coronavirus Cases

TALLAHASSEE, FL — The number of coronavirus cases in Florida rose to 19,895 Sunday night, an increase of 909 cases over the previous 24-hour period as Floridians for the first time celebrated the Easter holiday with online religious observances, surgical masks, food delivery and family video conferences.

"I think people have been greatly appreciative of the livestreaming of masses," Archbishop Thomas Wenski of the Catholic Archdiocese of Miami told WPLG-TV. "Easter doesn't exempt us from the trials and tribulations of daily life. We participate in our services with faith and hope ... This pandemic and the economic fallout from it is certainly a real way of the cross for us in this time and place."

Pastor David Hughes of the mega Church by the Glades in South Florida appeared for his weekly television broadcast with an audience of nine socially distanced people in a building that holds 2,000.

"Guess what coronavirus, you cannot cancel the promises of Jesus," the minister told his TV audience. "You cannot cancel his church. Church online is not canceled. Our worship is not canceled. Praying for the sick is not canceled. Helping your neighbor is not canceled. Sharing your toilet paper is not canceled."

State health officials reported a total of 461 deaths as of Sunday night up from 452 earlier in the day.

Miami-Dade County reported four new deaths on Sunday. Hillsborough County reported one new death as did Pasco County, Pinellas County, Brevard County, Marion County, Palm Beach County, Santa Rosa County and Flagler County. Bradford County reported its first death from the virus as did Jefferson County and Wakulla County.

There were a total of 2,672 hospitalizations from the virus reported in Florida as of Sunday night. The state had a 10.7 percent positive test rate out of 185,520 total tests.

With 7,058 cases, Miami-Dade County continues to have the most confirmed cases of any of Florida's 67 counties. Broward County, which includes Fort Lauderdale, had 2,945 cases. Palm Beach County, which includes West Palm Beach, reported 1,646 cases. Those three counties account for about 60 percent of Florida's cases.

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Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa, reported 759 cases as of Sunday. Orange County, which includes Orlando, reported 949 cases.

Related:

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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. Here is the most recent data: