Since June 5 (1,127), Polk has seen a whopping 678% increase in cases, rising by 7,645 after Governor Ron DeSantis expanded the state’s reopening process. To put that in perspective, in the same 41-day span, Florida cases have skyrocketed by 265,753, or a 332% increase.
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For the fourth consecutive day, Florida reported more than 100 deaths from COVID-19 on Friday for residents of the state.
The additional 128 COVID-19 deaths increased the state’s cumulative total to 4,805 for residents and 4,912 overall. In the past four days, Florida has verified 528 COVID-19 related resident deaths. That pushed the state’s seven-day moving average for deaths above 100 for the first time since the pandemic began and is more than double the July 8 average (48.4).
The Florida Department of Health also reported 11,466 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, the third day in a row with at least 10,000, bringing the state total to 327,241. Friday was the 24th day in a row with at least 5,000 positive cases across the state.
The news about the impact and spread of COVID-19 was no better in Polk County.
Polk added 274 new cases to see his overall total rise to 8,772, which remains the ninth-highest in the state.
Most concerning, however, were Polk’s new deaths, which increased by three, bringing the number of deaths this week alone to 24.
With a total number of deaths that increased to 162, the new deaths were for women aged 68 and 92, and a man aged 84.
Since June 5 (1,127), Polk has seen a whopping 678% increase in cases, rising by 7,645 after Governor Ron DeSantis expanded the state’s reopening process. To put that in perspective, in the same 41-day span, Florida cases have skyrocketed by 265,753, or a 332% increase.
The seven-day moving average has seen the county rack up 2,158 new cases, or 308.3 per day. In July, Polk increased by 4,714 cases, a 116% increase in positive tests in just 16 reporting days.
The cumulative percentage of people who tested positive for COVID-19 in Florida was 11.3% on Friday (327,241 cases for 2,884,245 test results). The state’s total number of tests is the third highest in the country behind California (5.9 million) and New York (4.9 million).
Polk’s overall positive test rate continues to rise, reaching 12.5% in the last report (8,772 cases for 70,237 test results). The county daily rate was 14.9% (274 cases for 1,565 test results) on Friday. Polk has been in double digits for a positive test rate 24 of the last 27 days. The county has averaged 15.3% as of July 3.
Public health experts say a 10% positivity rate is a critical benchmark denoting a serious spread of the virus. The World Health Organization has recommended a 5% positivity rate before countries start to reopen, according to a report by The Associated Press.
In May, after the state reopened, Florida’s positivity rate was around 5%. Polk’s was below 4%.
The number of Florida residents hospitalized with COVID-19 has increased to 20,191 since the pandemic began. The state hospitalization rate since the pandemic began is 6.2%. The Department of Health notes that the total number is cumulative and does not reflect the number of COVID-19 patients currently in hospitals.
Polk’s hospitalization rate was 7.2% (630 hospitalizations for 8,772 cases) on Friday.
Just under 13.9 million people worldwide have tested positive for COVID-19, and more than 592,000 have died. In the United States, there were 3,604,408 cases reported with 138,649 deaths, Johns Hopkins University reported Friday afternoon.
The United States has 4.3% of the world population and 25.9% of the world cases.
Florida’s unemployment rate fell to 10.4% in June from the previous month’s 13.7% rate when theme parks, restaurants, bars and other state businesses began to reopen after weeks of coronavirus-related blockades, reported Friday. the United States Department of Labor.
But the state’s economic future remains clouded by recent spikes in Florida’s COVID-19 case numbers, as evidenced last week that jobless claims nearly doubled last week from the previous week, economists said.
Four counties in the Orlando metropolitan region, dependent on theme parks, had the highest unemployment rates in the state in June. Osceola County led the way with a rate of 22.9%, followed by Orange County with 17.2%, Lake County with 14.3%, and Polk County with 14.1%.
