Florida coronavirus: Deaths climb to near 1,500

The latest coronavirus report from the Florida Department of Health added another 72 fatalities to raise the state death toll to 1,471.

As Florida and other states across the U.S. began their first steps toward reopening amid the coronavirus pandemic, one model used by the Trump administration severely shifted its projected deaths for both the state and the nation.

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation research center out of the University of Washington, which has been one of the primary tools in determining government reaction to coronavirus, released new data late Monday that now projects nearly 4,000 deaths in Florida and nearly 135,000 deaths in the U.S.

The numbers are more than double projections from just a week ago before several states, including Florida, lifted stay-at-home orders.

The new models also now don’t show an end to daily deaths, but a continuing climb in death toll through Aug. 4, the extent of the projections at this time. For Florida, the projection is for 3,971 deaths with an uncertainty between 1,991 and 11,269. For the U.S., the projections is now 134,475 with an uncertainty between 95,092 and 242,890.

In weeks past, as the state and nation were mostly locked down, the models had shown deaths topping out at around 1,900 for Florida and as low as 60,000 for the U.S.

Despite the morbid change for long-term fatalities from COVID-19, the models still show that both Florida and the U.S. are at the top or even past the curve in terms of daily deaths.

Florida’s deadliest day to date, according to the Florida Department of Health, was April 17 with 53 deaths, although as new fatalities are reported, daily death tolls are adjusted.

Tuesday’s update of 72 new reported deaths are not all from Monday, but run across several days. Tuesdays have been the biggest jump in reported deaths for two weeks in a row since the state switched it method of reporting from twice daily to one single morning report.

New COVID-19 cases Tuesday were up by 542 from Monday for a total of 37,439. The state has performed nearly 470,000 tests, with 8% returning positive for the virus.

During a Tuesday press conference from the state’s newest drive-through testing site in Sarasota, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday’s statewide test results of more than 23,884 tests performed showed the lowest percentage of new positive cases yet, at just 2.61%, since major testing began.

DeSantis said he’ll be giving more details Wednesday about a mobile RV lab coming to the state that will provide rapid 45-minute tests focused on the vulnerable populations at the state’s assisted living facilities.

Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz said more mobile sites will come online this week, including locations in Brevard and Volusia counties, and will help push the state’s daily test capacity from 30,000 currently to its target of 40,000.

DeSantis said the state’s drive-through testing sites later this week will begin offering the COVID-19 antibodies test that would confirm if people already had the virus, although he noted it’s uncertain how long antibodies are present in the body after infection. The state has 200,000 of the tests in hand and will be providing them to hospitals as well.

Also at the press conference, DeSantis noted the section of his shutdown order that allowed take-out alcohol from restaurants has been one of the most successful changes made amid the coronavirus outbreak.

“I think that’s been pretty popular. We’re probably going to keep that going. Maybe we’ll have the Legislature change the law on that,” he said.

He also said he felt “100% comfortable” going out to eat at a restaurant with his family, saying his children were not among the demographic most vulnerable to the virus.

Despite the projections, the state’s medical system did not become overwhelmed as some had predicted, which was a driving factor for DeSantis to begin “Phase 1” of his reopening plan Monday. All but the three South Florida counties of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach reopened retailers, restaurants and some state parks, although all with social distancing requirements and capacity restrictions.

The state’s economic halt has seen more than 1 million confirmed claims to its beleaguered unemployment benefits site. Less than 50% of those claims have been paid out since the outbreak began in March.

“This thing wasn’t going to cut it,” he said of the system, which has been plagued by bottlenecks and technology problems. At one point in mid-April, it was processing just 4% of claims.

The investigation will delve into contracts awarded to create the $77 million system under former Gov. Rick Scott in 2011.

“All this money was spent on this system when it clearly did not have the capacity for anything above 3% to 4% unemployment, even a mild recession,” DeSantis said. “That’s not a good use of taxpayer money.”

The dire state of unemployment will get some relief as the reopening plan continues.

Orlando resident Brian Verner, who took his 1-year-old son, James, to Green Springs Park in Volusia County before stopping in at Hollerbach’s Willow Tree Café in downtown Sanford.

“I’ve been cooped up with him for six weeks,” the 34-year-old said. “My wife works, she’s working all the time from home, so [I’m] just trying to give her a break and get out.”

What remains closed statewide, though, are salons, barbers, spas and other personal care businesses, with DeSantis not giving a clear timetable for those operations to reopen.

To counter the increase in person-to-person contact, despite social distancing guidelines, the state continues to ramp up testing sites and local health officials say for now, data shows the response had been trending in the right direction.

“All the current data indicates we’re in good shape,” said Dr. Raul Pino, director of the state Health Department in Orange County.

The county has conducted more than 29,000 virus tests and the number yielding positive results continues to decline, with few than 5% of the tests coming back as positive for the virus. And 93% of local cases are considered “recovered,” Pino said.

For the first time since early February, the number of people admitted to a hospital in Orange County after an emergency room visit because of cough, fever or shortness of breath, all frequent symptoms of the virus, dropped to nearly zero, Pino said. The weekly tally of patients visiting emergency rooms with influenza-like illness also has fallen to fewer than 100, down from 500 patients six weeks ago.

Central Florida now has 4,221 cases, including 1,446 in Orange, 547 in Polk, 521 in Volusia, 514 in Osceola, 403 in Seminole, 319 in Brevard, 236 in Sumter and 235 in Lake.

Five new fatalities were reported Tuesday bringing the Central Florida death toll to 143. The new deaths include a 48-year-old Lake County man, an 82-year-old Osceola County man, an 88-year-old Volusia County man and two women in Polk County, one 85 and the other 94. Orange County still leads the region with 35 reported deaths to date. (See details on all Central Florida cases here).

South Florida remains the epicenter of the pandemic in the state, accounting for 59 percent of cases with 22,106 total among Miami-Dade (13,224), Broward (5,492) and Palm Beach (3,390) counties.

You can find a running summary of the latest updates on the coronavirus in the Orlando area and Florida below. Also, sign up for new daily Florida coronavirus update by subscribing to The Health Report newsletter and as-they-happen Breaking News emails at OrlandoSentinel.com/newsletters.

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Asked this week about the offer by the Sentinel, a senior Westgate executive — Chief Operating Officer Mark Waltrip — acknowledged in an email that the company has received money through the federal government’s “Paycheck Protection Program,” an emergency program meant to help the country’s smallest businesses continue paying their employees during the COVID-19 economic collapse. But Waltrip said the company has not used any of that money to temporarily hire outside travel writers.

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Man, 48, is youngest coronavirus victim in Lake, Sumter

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Overall, 28 people have died from the infection in Lake and Sumter, among the 1,471 deaths across Florida.

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The projections, based on data collected by various agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and laid out in an internal document obtained Monday by The New York Times, forecast about 200,000 new cases each day by the end of May, up from about 30,000 cases now. There are currently about 1,750 deaths per day, the data shows.

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According to a report to be released Tuesday by the nonprofit Heart of Florida United Way, of Florida’s 7.8 million households, nearly 2.6 million were unable to afford the basic expenses of housing, child care, food, transportation, health care and a smartphone plan, despite having jobs.

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But the theme park operator gave passholders something to look forward to as the company announced Monday it is automatically upgrading annual passes by one tier for the rest of the year. For instance, a gold passholder who had no blockout dates at Aquatica Orlando and SeaWorld Orlando now gets access to all the company’s 11 U.S. theme parks, including Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, under the platinum pass.

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April collections are expected to be worse: Walt Disney World didn’t shut down until halfway through March, for instance, and DeSantis didn’t issue a statewide shelter-in-place order until the beginning of April.

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Wear disposable gloves when cleaning and disinfecting surfaces. Gloves should be discarded after each cleaning. If reusable gloves are used, those gloves should be dedicated for cleaning and disinfection of surfaces for COVID-19 and should not be used for other purposes.

Call your health-care provider if you have cough, fever, shortness of breath, chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sort throat and new loss of taste or smell — and you’ve been in close contact with someone who has COVID-19.

Follow these recommendations for using a face mask: The CDC now recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social-distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies), especially in areas of significant community-based transmission. Follow these guidelines for using a cloth mask.

Questions? Here are numbers to call

The Florida Department of Health has set up a call center to answer questions about coronavirus. There’s a number for Orange County, too.

The Florida Department of Health’s number is 1-866-779-6121 and is available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Residents may also email questions to [email protected].

In Orange County, the number to call is 407-723-5004; it’s available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For accurate, up-to-date information, visit