Thirty-four states are in phase one reopening, including Florida. Despite “alarming” warnings of new models suggesting new spikes in cases and deaths, the actual facts in real-time suggest significant improvement throughout the US. Were it not for spikes in Brazil and Russia, the outlook around the world would be extremely encouraging.
The FDA issued a new warning about antibody tests that may not be effective. They’ve identified at least 250 tests purported to be effective for COVID-19 diagnosis but aren’t reliable. To date, only 12 labs have submitted their tests for FDA approval with the most widely available approved tests being offered by Lab Corp and Quest Diagnostics.
New medical research was produced and discussed Monday by researchers from Yale, the Warren Albert School of Medicine and Mount Sinai. They’ve observed blood clotting issues with COVID-19 patients of all ages that they’ve not seen with virus reactions previously. The clotting issues can lead to sudden strokes or death and could be the biggest threat posed by the virus for those who aren’t in “at-risk” categories.
As of now, there are 3,657,733 cases, 252,548 deaths, and 1,202,735 recoveries worldwide. In the US, there are 1,212,955 cases, 69,925 deaths, and 188,068 recoveries. There were 89,000 new diagnosed cases and 4,200 deaths worldwide due to the coronavirus on Monday. That’s a higher rate of new cases and a lower rate of deaths from the recent trendline. Brazil and Russia are continuing to see significant spikes in case counts and are responsible for most of the new cases being reported worldwide. In the United States, we’ve had 24,000 new cases and 1,323 deaths Monday. Both are well below the trendline and especially encouraging as 34 states are in phase one reopening.
In Florida, we have 36,897 cases and 1,399 deaths. Florida had 819 new cases and 20 deaths in Florida attributed to the coronavirus over the past day. Of course, yesterday was Florida’s phase one reopening day, except in South Florida. However, starting Wednesday Broward County is offering in-home COVID-19 testing for elderly and disabled residents. The Florida Department of Health in Broward County is administering the program with the Broward Department of Health calling residents with their test results and any required follow up medical care if needed. Interested residents should call 954-357-9500.
Florida remains 8th in the country in total cases and 10th in deaths. Florida’s performing far better than most states on a relative basis. We’ve also tested more aggressively than most states, with only New York having tested more than Florida. More than half of all of Florida’s cases currently are in the tri-county area with Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach having the most cases in the state in that order.
- Miami-Dade: 13,092
- Broward: 5,383
- Palm Beach: 3,311
The overall positive test rate in Florida continued to improve Monday. 8.3% of all tests for COVID-19 have come back positive, that's down from Sunday. As a reminder, the newest diagnosed cases are new cases obtained through community spread. This reinforces the importance of adhering to the warnings of public officials including social distancing,safer-at-home declarations, and wearing masks in public.
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