Florida nears 5,000 coronavirus deaths as hospitalizations steadily increase

Florida continues to report thousands of new coronavirus cases Friday amid the global pandemic that is also creating economic uncertainty as millions of Floridians are days away from losing federal unemployment benefits.

The Florida Department of Health reported 11,466 new positive coronavirus cases Friday, as well as 366 new hospitalizations, with a positivity rate of 11.85% for newly reported cases compared to those tested.

The state is now releasing numbers on currently hospitalized coronavirus patients, the Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration dashboard shows 8,982 people are currently receiving treatment at medical facilities across the state due to complications from COVID-19 as of 10:46 a.m. Friday.

The new statistics bring Florida’s total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases to 327,241 since the disease was first detected in the state on March 1.

As of Friday, 4,912 people have died in Florida from the virus.

On July 1, the FDOH began reporting resident and non-resident deaths as separate categories. The state reported 128 new resident deaths and two new non-resident deaths in Florida on Friday, making for a cumulative total of 4,805 COVID-19 related resident deaths and 107 non-resident deaths.

If you are having trouble viewing the dashboard on mobile, click here.

The U.S. Department of Labor reported a surge Thursday in first-time filings for unemployment benefits in Florida. In the week ending July 11, there were 129,408 new unemployment filings, an increase of more than 62,000 from the week before.

On July 25, $600 unemployment payments under the federal CARES Act are set to expire. Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation provides an additional $600 per week to people already qualified for state benefits. Those jobless Floridians who qualify for state benefits will continue to receive $275 payments.

Contractors and self-employed, who do not qualify for state benefits, will continue to see federal unemployment payments up to $275 until December.

According to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, more than 2.9 million unique unemployment claims have been filed since March. Of those claims, more than 1.7 million have received at least one payment. The DEO says it has paid out $10.3 billion in unemployment benefits mostly from federal dollars, $2.3 billion of that amount is from state funds.

The DEO is set to provide an update Friday to discuss the statewide unemployment numbers.

In Central Florida, after a record day of new nearly 1,400 cases in Orange County, the school board is set to vote on its plan to reopen schools next month following the Florida Department of Education executive order telling schools to reopen for at least five days a week despite the ongoing pandemic.

The Orange County School Board listened to nearly six hours of at times emotional public comment earlier this week from parents, teachers and concerned citizens.

The board is considering three options: Face-to-face learning, Orange County Virtual School and an Innovate Learning Option.

The meeting began Friday at 9 a.m.

More than 600 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in Orange County.

New deaths were reported in Brevard, Lake, Marion, Orange, Osceola, Polk and Seminole counties.

Here’s a breakdown of coronavirus cases in the Central Florida region:

As of Friday morning, the U.S. has reported more than 3.5 million cases of the virus, including more than 138,000 deaths.

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