Coronavirus Cases In Florida Top 2,000 Mark As Deaths Spike

TALLAHASSEE, FL — The number of coronavirus cases in Florida hit another milestone Thursday, for the first time surpassing the 2,000 mark with 2,484 cases as the death toll jumped to 29, according to state health officials.

Food distribution efforts were also underway across parts of the state as some 2,000 families turned out at one site near Miami and the hours had to be extended.

Twenty of Florida's 67 counties still have not reported any cases of the virus while Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties in South Florida account for more than half of the total number of cases. The first case was reported in Washington County Thursday night.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday, cleared the way for the state's 90,000 employees to obtain telemedicine services and flu shots at no additional cost to them. The governor has largely left the decision to impose lockdowns on each county and municipality in the state thus far in the crisis.

WPLG-TV reported that two Costa cruise ships transported an unknown number of crew members to PortMiami after crew members experienced flu-like symptoms. The ships did not have any passengers aboard.

Florida's total includes 410 hospitalizations and a positive test rate rate for the virus of 8.2 percent based on 28,644 tests.

With 654 cases, Miami-Dade County has the most confirmed cases of any of Florida's 67 counties. Nearby Broward County, which has a much smaller population than Miami-Dade, has 505 cases.

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Palm Beach County, which is just north of Broward County, has 174 cases.

Related:

• Coronavirus Fears May Be Keeping Us Awake At Night
• FL Expands Coronavirus Order Targeting NY, NJ, CT Travelers
• 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 travel-related cases by county and the number of deaths: