ORLANDO, Fla. – The Florida Department of Health reported thousands of new positive cases of coronavirus Monday, a trend that has continued for several weeks.
To date, Florida has now had more than 100,217 infected with COVID-19 since March. Florida reported an additional 2,926 new positive cases on Sunday, a decrease in new cases from previous days which saw a record number over the weekend.
The number of deaths reached 3,173, including 12 additional deaths reported since Sunday.
The rate of new infections continued to remain high, with nearly 12% of recent tests coming back from laboratories as positive.
While many who test positive for coronavirus show minor or no symptoms at all, people with severe cases of the disease can result in hospitalization and even death.
The hospitalization numbers are important to watch. As of Monday, 13,119 people in Florida have been hospitalized due to COVID-19 since March 1. That is an increase of 82 new reported hospitalizations in 24 hours.
Florida Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Mary Mayhew said last week hospitals have enough bed and ventilator capacity to support new hospitalizations.
According to the AHCA hospital bed dashboard, there are more than 16,500 beds available as of Monday which is about 27% of the total hospital beds in the state.
Despite the rise of new infections, Gov. Ron DeSantis said he does not plan to roll back any of the state’s plans to continue reopening or to issue an executive order requiring people wear face masks in public.
Coronavirus closures caused thousands of layoffs and furloughs across Florida leading to more than 2.3 million people filing for unemployment benefits.
While some people have started returning to work, several Orlando-area businesses including bars and restaurants have decided to close after employees or guests tested positive for COVID-19.
On Monday, Walt Disney World will begin reopening some of its resorts and campground to guests for the first time since the pandemic forced the theme park giant to close. Under Disney’s phased reopening plans, all resorts will be open by October.
Across Florida, local leaders have implemented face mask mandates including Orange and Osceola counties.
Over the weekend, several events around Central Florida drew large numbers, including a boat parade in Brevard County.
Jupiter resident Carlos Gavidia, a key organizer of Saturday’s boat parade, told News 6 partner Florida Today he hoped that more than 1,000 watercraft would participate.
In Volusia County, New Smyrna Beach was forced to close access to beaches due to capacity Sunday morning, Volusia County Beach Safety officials said.
Coronavirus testing continues across Florida, the line for the National Guard testing site at Orange County Convention Center was about a mile long prior to the regional testing site opening Monday morning.
In Central Florida, new deaths were reported in Lake, Orange and Seminole counties on Monday. The state data on coronavirus deaths are often delayed by up to two weeks, according to the DOH.
Below is a breakdown of Central Florida COVID-19 data from the last 24 hours:
| County | Total cases | New cases in the last 24 hours | Deaths | Hospitalizations | New hospitalizations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brevard | 878 | 28 | 16 | 95 | 0 |
| Flagler | 237 | 11 | 5 | 27 | 0 |
| Lake | 763 | 30 | 20 | 100 | 0 |
| Marion | 395 | 17 | 10 | 53 | 2 |
| Orange | 5,157 | 243 | 49 | 445 | 8 |
| Osceola | 1,080 | 28 | 23 | 177 | 2 |
| Polk | 2,225 | 183 | 78 | 412 | 3 |
| Seminole | 1,361 | 96 | 16 | 144 | 5 |
| Sumter | 286 | 2 | 17 | 46 | 0 |
| Volusia | 1,263 | 45 | 53 | 194 | 0 |
As states, including Florida, Texas and Arizona report a growing number of cases, some have referred to the increase as a “second wave,” however, it may be too early to say we are done with the first round from the pandemic.
“When you have 20,000-plus infections per day, how can you talk about a second wave?” said Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health. “We’re in the first wave. Let’s get out of the first wave before you have a second wave.”
The World Health Organization on Sunday reported the largest single-day increase in coronavirus cases by its count, at more than 183,000 new cases in the latest 24 hours.
The UN health agency said Brazil led the way with 54,771 cases tallied and the U.S. next at 36,617. Over 15,400 came in in India.
Experts said rising case counts can reflect multiple factors including more widespread testing as well as a broader infection.
Overall during the pandemic, WHO has reported 8.9 million with 468,881 deaths worldwide.
More than two-thirds of those new deaths were reported in the Americas.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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