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| Palm Beach Post
On a day when the total number of coronavirus cases in the United States exceeded 10 million, the Florida Department of Health for the third time in a month was hours behind in releasing the state’s daily tally.
When state health officials finally released the latest update, it provided more fodder for those who claim the deadly virus continues to infect residents of Florida, especially those in the south. of Florida at alarming rates.
More: COVID-19 cases accelerate by nearly 7,000 in Florida
The agency, which has been plagued with reporting problems and accused of trying to hide damning information, has provided no explanation for the nearly six-hour delay.
The report showed that the state had registered an additional 3,924 new cases, bringing the total number of infections to 847,821.
In Palm Beach County, another 367 people have been diagnosed with highly contagious respiratory illness. That means 55,816 people in the county have been infected since the start of the pandemic.
As in the rest of the country, cases have exploded in Florida in recent weeks.
The nation has gone from 9 million to 10 million cases in 10 days.
While the gains in Florida aren’t as dramatic, it took Florida 20 days to go from 700,000 to around 748,000 cases, but only 11 days to go from 800,000 to the nearly 848,000 on Monday.
In the past seven days, Florida has added 35,758 cases – the most in a week since mid-August.
Palm Beach County has followed the same trend. The 2,665 cases he added in the past seven days are the largest since the week ending August 10.
The increases prompted a panel of public health experts to declare Palm Beach County, along with the rest of South Florida, in trouble.
“Palm Beach County is either actively experiencing an epidemic or is at extreme risk,” said COVID Act Now, a group affiliated with the health research centers at Georgetown, Stanford and Harvard universities.
His grim assessment, which he repeated for Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties, is based on the high number of cases recorded in recent weeks.
In Palm Beach County, 25.5 people per 100,000 population have been diagnosed daily. Miami-Dade and Broward are both higher with 29.5 and 39.7 people per 100,000 diagnosed, respectively, he said.
With this level of spread, researchers said bars should be avoided or ordered to close, gatherings should be limited to 25 people, gyms should operate at 25% of capacity, and outdoor dining should be encouraged. They recommended distance learning for school children.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, who banned local authorities from restricting the operation of any establishment by allowing all businesses in the state to reopen on September 25, said he would never order the shutdown again. They don’t work, he said.
While the daily update from state health officials has been delayed two more times in the past month, Monday was the first time officials failed to explain the reasons for the lapse.
On October 21, when the 11 a.m. update wasn’t released until around 5 p.m., health officials said it was because Florida Surgeon General Dr Scott Rivkees had questioned the validity of some of the deaths reported by COVID-19. As of October 10, no updates were released due to what state health officials described as a data dump.
Since Rivkees expressed concern over some reported deaths from COVID-19 and vowed to investigate, the number of reported deaths statewide has dropped.
Despite this, 17,391 people have died statewide since the start of the pandemic, including 1,633 in the county.
On Monday, the state reported 58 new deaths. In recent weeks, the state has not reported more than 400 additional deaths in a single week. In October, when far fewer people were hospitalized, the state consistently reported more than 600 deaths per week.
In Palm Beach County, for the third time in a week, no new deaths were reported on Monday. This has not happened since the end of May.
Some researchers said the drop could be due to doctors improving in treating sick people. Others say people who test positive in recent weeks may be younger, healthier, and less likely to die.
Jason Salemi, epidemiologist and associate professor of public health at the University of South Florida, said there might be a logical explanation for the drop in deaths.
Sadly, he said, state health officials have not said whether new procedures were put in place after Rivkees questioned the validity of some of the deaths.
The lack of transparency, which has hampered the agency’s response to the pandemic, has raised questions about the reclassification of some deaths from COVID-19.
Salemi said he would start asking questions if the number of people hospitalized continues to rise.
On Monday, 2,898 people were treated for COVID-19 at medical centers statewide, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration. That’s an increase of almost 45% since October 18.
The county has seen an even more alarming trend. On Monday, 191 people were hospitalized for treatment for COVID-19. This is double the number of people hospitalized about a month ago.
If hospitalizations continue to rise, deaths are expected to follow, Salemi said.
“If the hospitalizations go over 3,000 or 3,500, then two weeks later we should see an increase in deaths,” Salemi said.
In addition, the positivity rate, which indicates the prevalence of the disease, has steadily increased.
On Monday, daily rates in the state and county reached levels not seen since the virus raged in July.
A whopping 8.62% of tests reported in the county on Monday were positive. Statewide, 8.07% of tests were positive.
Global health experts have said the rate needs to stay below 5% for two weeks before meaningful action can be taken to curb the spread of the virus.
Over the past two weeks, the state’s daily average has averaged 6.43 percent while it averaged 6.6 percent in the county.
Even though test centers were closed as Tropical Storm Eta hit the area with wind and rain, the number of people tested in the county did not drop dramatically in Monday’s report.
While some government-run testing centers will remain closed on Tuesday, one at the South County Civic Center will reopen.
Trials at FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach, Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton and Lakeside Medical Center in Belle Glade will resume on Wednesday.
However, due to Veterans Day, those the Health Care District operates at its Brumback clinics in West Palm Beach, Jupiter and Delray Beach will not reopen until Thursday. A full list of testing sites is available at pbcgov.com/coronavirus.
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