Many businesses in Florida reopened from Monday, May 18. According to the health data, the number of people positive from COVID-19 has continued to rise at a stable rate.
Selected restaurants, retail stores, gyms, and salons were allowed to reopen with 50% staff. They need to maintain several precautions including social distancing of six feet and constant temperature check. Eateries have reopened with only 25% of staff.
Ron DeSantis, Republican Governor, stated that the state needs the economic flow to start as soon as possible. He also mentioned decreased cases in counties outside of Miami. This is also the reason why they’ve allowed ease of lockdown orders. However, the Florida Health Department sent out data that showed that the state isn’t making much progress in bringing down the number of positive cases or deaths. It remains to be as stable as it was in the past couple of weeks. However, there are a greater number of tests being conducted now.
Number of report COVID-19 cases
On May 1, the state had allowed the initial phase of reopening. At that time there were 34,728 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 1,890 deaths. On May 18, the reports recorded 46,442 cases and 2,073 deaths. The jump in the number of cases has been significant while the date rate seems to flatten. In comparison, New York City had reported 191,073 positive cases and 15,983 deaths on Monday.
The number of new cases reported in Florida has been fluctuating every day between May 1 and 18. The lowest number of cases were reported on May 7, while the highest on May 16. The state recorded more than 700 new cases within those six days. Every county had at least one case each day throughout May.
The death count has also been fluctuating all through the 18 days. But there is progress when it comes to that. Between May 1 and 8, the state reported an average of 42 death every day. However, between May 9 to 16, the average was around 24 deaths per day. Only one day between May 9 and 16, there were more than 30 deaths reported. Rest have all been lower than 30 casualties.
The health department of Florida couldn’t provide data every day. However, they reported 5,795 hospitalization due to coronavirus on May 1. On May 18, the amount was 8,304 patients. The department stated that the office will monitor the number of cases after reopening. They will also make sure that safety measures are being followed.
The state is currently testing more than 60,000 people every day. The governor has increased lab capacity by 30,000 per day. The state reportedly tested 677,710 people for COVID, which jumped from around 220,000 on May 1.
Drop in the level of positive cases
On May 1, there were 45,235 positive cases out of which the total number of tests done were 458,156. Thus, around 10% of the people tested positive. On May 18, there were 46,442 positive tests out of 677,710 tests, which means 7% and lesser amount of COVID-19 cases in overall.
The health department stated that the Rapid Emergency Support Team which includes local sheriffs and medical experts being assigned for long-term care. This is to make sure that residents are tested properly and then treated. Florida Nation Guard will help the local counties towards testing as well.
