TAMPA, Fla. — For the fourth time in a week, Florida broke its own record for the highest number of new and confirmed COVID-19 cases in a single day.
On Tuesday, the Department of Health reported 2,783 new cases of coronavirus in the state since Monday. That number tops the previous record set Saturday of 2,581 new cases.
This also marks the sixth day in the row of new cases topping more than 1,600.
Here's the breakdown of new coronavirus cases in Florida since June 11:
- Thursday: 1,698
- Friday: 1,902
- Saturday: 2,581
- Sunday: 2,106
- Monday: 1,758
In the last seven days, there have been 14,109 new cases of coronavirus reported by the state.
According to state data, there have now been 80,109 positive cases of COVID-19 in Florida since tracking began. Hospitalizations are up to 12,206 as of Tuesday.
A total of 2,993 people have died from coronavirus in the state.
The state also reported a slight increase in the overall percent positive rate for testing on Tuesday: 5.5 percent. On Monday, that rate was 5.4 percent.
Here's a county-by-county breakdown of cases for the Tampa Bay area:
- Hernando: 146
- Hillsborough: 4,029
- Pinellas: 2,523
- Polk: 1,566
- Pasco: 560
- Sarasota: 789
- Manatee: 1,483
All these numbers from the state can be confusing, and even doctors say they can be deceptive.
The number of cases in Florida have spiked and broke single-day records in the last week, but on Friday Gov. Ron DeSantis said that's because we're doing more testing.
"Now we have widespread testing," DeSantis said. "We're doing three times as many tests a day now than we did at the end of March."
1,461,297 people have been tested in Florida as of June 16. That's an increase of 30,133 from Monday, June 15.
Dr. Jill Roberts, an epidemiologist at the University of South Florida College of Public Health said the percent positive rate can be misleading.
"From day to day we can actually compare percents if only we've tested the same number of people every single day, so if I test 1,000 people today and 1,000 people tomorrow then we could actually compare those percentages," she said.
But one thing that is clear -- coronavirus is spreading in Florida.
"Continue to wear those masks, continue to keep social distancing. Be willing to work with individuals because if you are somebody that became sick, obviously take care of yourself but keep in mind who you were in contact with so people can be isolated and quarantined," Roberts said.
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