The death toll from coronavirus in Florida hit 10,000 on Wednesday as the state continued to fight to bring the ongoing pandemic under control.
Nearly six months since Florida’s first case was identified, the state reported 174 deaths on Wednesday, bringing the total death toll to 10,067.
Florida now has the fifth highest death toll in the US. The only other states that have reached 10,000 deaths are New York, New Jersey, California and Texas.
Although the weekly Florida average and cases are declining, half of all deaths in the state were recorded in the last month alone. So far, Florida has had 584,047 positive cases.
But speaking at a mental health event on Wednesday, Mayor Ron DeSantis tried to paint a positive picture. He pointed to the declining positivity rates and the number of people in hospitals being treated for coronavirus, saying, “These are all good trends, these are all positive signs.”
The news comes as the Florida Education Association, Florida’s largest education association, on Wednesday prosecuted DeSantis and other state officials in an effort to prevent schools from reopening during the pandemic.
The union is seeking an order from a Tallahassee judge to prevent the state from forcing schools to reopen five days a week.
Meanwhile, in New York, where the infection rate for 12 straight days has been below 1%, Governor Andrew Cuomo told schools reopening next month that it would be “risky and problematic”.
He added: “The flu season begins in September. It will make it much harder to diagnose symptomatic people, it will make some people sick with the flu, which will put them in a serious situation when they get Covid, and then it will really stress our test capacity. ”
He also warned that the virus would return, telling New Yorkers: “This is not over. The second wave is coming. It will be more challenging. ‘
In the US, the pandemic continues to rage, with Covid-19 now the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer.
Meanwhile, the number of tests being conducted is declining, especially in the south, reports the Covid Tracking Project.
According to Johns Hopkins University data, the US now has at least 5.5m cases of coronavirus and at least 172,428 deaths.
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