Brevard woke up to bad news Tuesday: The number of coronavirus deaths in the county had risen by 20, from 65 to 85, a record one day. But while deaths increased substantially in July, it is not the case that 20 people died overnight, according to health officials.
“The deaths reported today are not a single one-day number,” Anita Stremmel, assistant director of the Florida Department of Health at Brevard, wrote in an email to FLORIDA TODAY. “These people may have died several days ago.”
A list of deaths released daily by the Health Department indicates which cases were recently reported that day. While no date of death is indicated, a column is marked showing when cases were confirmed as a case of coronavirus. For the 20 deaths recorded on Tuesday, the dates go from July 2 to July 27.
Plus: Coronavirus at Brevard, July 28: Deaths Increase by 20, a Record; 186 deaths in Florida, also a record
“The Health Department continues to work to ensure that data from the COVID-19 case is reported expeditiously as soon as it is available,” added Stremmel.
Some 68 deaths have been reported so far in July. Brevard passed 5,000 cases of coronavirus on Monday since the pandemic began.
The previous record for single-day deaths here was six, which occurred on July 9 and 15.
Craig Engelson, chief investigator for the Brevard Medical Examiner, said it would be an overwhelming workload for his office to receive 20 deaths in one day, but that in recent weeks the number of daily deaths has been higher than before the current Florida surge, which started in June.
“If I had to make a rough estimate of deaths, the last two weeks would be about five a day,” said Engelson.
He said that these are generally in the age group of 60 to 90 years. “We are not going to be 20 years old, thank God.”
“Before this peak, we were doing something fantastic,” he said, adding that his office generally sees no more than a couple of cases per week.
Although both the Health Department and district medical examiners record deaths from coronavirus, DOH records deaths based on a person’s place of residence, while medical examiners go where they died.
Engelson noted that a fraction of the cases his office handled may be residents of Indian River County who ended up in the Brevard hospital system, but that all cases were verified with the local DOH count to verify their accuracy.
Florida as a whole also set a new single-day record Tuesday with 186 deaths from COVID-19 that solidifies its position at the epicenter of the national pandemic.
Sunshine State now tops New York’s previous access point in cases and ranks second in California, which has 18 million more people than Sunshine State.
Florida health officials reported 9,240 new cases Tuesday, bringing the state total to 441,977. The death toll has risen to 6,117 since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
In 10 days of this month, the state has recorded more than 100 deaths from the virus.
Brevard County Commission Chairman Bryan Lober reacted Tuesday to the news of Tuesday’s local death registry. with criticism for those who rejected efforts to implement mandates to wear masks.
With masks It has been widely advocated by public health experts and medical professionals as a simple way to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and save lives.
Lober has lobbied for commissioners to implement mask policies at local county businesses.
“Legend has it that the Roman emperor Nero played around while Rome burned,” Lober said. “As the number of preventable deaths continues to increase unnecessarily, I can’t help but imagine several local elected officials holding violins in their hands. Some have enough practice to be virtuous.”
With no mask requirements across the county, several Brevard cities and towns have implemented their own mask mandates this month, including Cocoa Beach, Indialantic, Indian Harbor Beach, Melbourne Beach, Palm Shores, Satellite Beach, and West Melbourne. Some major retailers like CVS, Publix, Target and Walmart are also institute mask policies for your stores.
The avalanche of mandates You’ve created a mosaic of rules from community to community, and even store to store.
Last week in Brevard County, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis reiterated that he would not consider a state mandate for the masks.
“If you look at what we’re seeing on the ground in places like Brevard County, I think we’re seeing positive momentum,” he said five days ago at a news conference at Health First’s Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne
“I think we are going to head in a better direction here soon.”
TODAY’S FLORIDA reporter Dave Berman contributed to this story.
Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon is a surveillance reporter in FLORIDA TODAY.
Contact Sassoon at 321-355-8144, [email protected] and Twitter: @alemzs
