Now in final stage of reopening, Florida reports 738 new COVID-19 cases, 5 deaths

September 29, 2020 steven

ORLANDO, Fla. – As Florida continued to ease into the final stage of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ reopening plan, the health department reported another 738 new cases of the coronavirus Monday.

The new cases of the respiratory illness bring the state’s total to 701,302 since the virus was first detected in Florida in March. Six months after the first COVID-19 case was reported, Florida is now reducing restrictions meant to mitigate the spread of coronavirus.

On Monday the Florida Department of Health announced five people have recently died due to the virus. Florida’s COVID-19 death toll now stands at 14,207 deaths, including 170 non-residents who have died in the state.

Data from COVID-19 related deaths are often delayed and new deaths can take up to two weeks to report, according to health officials.

Worldwide, nearly one million people have died from the disease, including more than 204,000 in the U.S. alone. America has reported the most cases of the virus and has the highest death toll, according to Johns Hopkins University.

According to the Agency for Health Care Administration, as of Monday morning, there were a total of 2,093 patients hospitalized statewide with COVID-19.

The DOH reported 73 new hospitalized patients Monday, meaning a total of 43,606 people have been in the hospital at some point during the past six months due to the virus.

When comparing the number of people who tested positive for the first time to the number of tests done in a single day, the state calculates the daily positivity rate. The daily positivity rate is used to get a gauge on the spread of COVID-19. On Monday, the FDOH reported the daily positivity rate was 4.23%. The state’s rate for all testing is 13.31%.

The percent of positive results ranged from 3.85% to 5.85% during the past two weeks in Florida.

Health officials believe the daily rate should be below 10% to scale back local precautions to help stop the spread of the virus. The World Health Organization advises societies can reopen when they can keep their overall positivity rate at 5% or below.

President Donald Trump will provide an update Monday on the nation’s coronavirus testing strategy from the White House Rose Garden.

[SEE SUNDAY’S REPORT: Florida surpasses 700K cases after health officials report 1,882 new cases of COVID-19]

Below is a breakdown of cases in Central Florida counties.

County	Cases	New Cases	Hospitalizations	New Hospitalizations	Deaths	New Deaths
Brevard	8,848	7	795	1	293	0
Flagler	1,729	40	141	1	23	0
Lake	7,475	9	569	2	190	1
Marion	9,713	5	945	5	288	0
Orange	39,990	17	1,332	0	444	-1
Osceola	12,455	17	638	2	145	0
Polk	19,888	39	2,069	4	528	-1
Seminole	9,009	11	648	0	209	1
Sumter	2,228	6	250	0	67	0
Volusia	10,834	19	804	0	239	0