More than 6 times more COVID-19 cases in Florida since governor reopened state

Florida is reporting more than six times the number of COVID-19 cases that it had a little less than two months ago when Gov. Ron DeSantis greenlighted Phase Two of his plan to reopen the state.

As of Tuesday morning, 369,834 cases had been identified across the Sunshine State. On June 3 when the governor made the announcement that bars and pubs could reopen at 50 percent capacity inside and full capacity outside – as long as social distancing and sanitization rules were being followed – the state was reporting 58,764 COVID-19 cases.

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Under Phase Two, bowling alleys, movie theaters, arcades and auditoriums also were allowed to reopen at 50 percent capacity. But a portion of that plan was short-lived, as DeSantis reversed his decision on bars and ordered them closed again on June 26 when the state was reporting 122,960 cases. And in The Villages, movie theaters shut their doors on July 5 after being open for just 19 days.

The number of deaths and people hospitalized also are quite different today than when DeSantis decided to reopen the state. On June 3, the state was reporting 2,566 deaths and 10,525 people hospitalized. Twenty-three days later when bars were closed down a second time, the state was reporting 3,366 deaths and 13,987 people being hospitalized. And on Tuesday, those numbers had ballooned to 5,183 deaths and 21,263 people being treated in area hospitals.

In the tri-county area on June 3, there were 39 deaths and 158 people hospitalized. On June 26, there were 49 deaths and 215 people requiring some form of hospital care. On Tuesday, those numbers had increased to 91 deaths and 564 people requiring some form of hospital care.

Throughout the recent spike in COVID-19 cases, DeSantis has pointed out that the majority of new patients are asymptomatic younger people – many of whom have ignored social distancing orders and have been out in large groups. Earlier, the governor had blamed the continued spike on more testing and new cases among migrant farm workers who live and work in close quarters, as well as cases in jails and prisons.

On Tuesday, statistics provided by the Florida Department of Health showed that 20 percent of cases across Florida are in the age group of 25-34 years old. But the numbers among 15-24, 35-44 and 45-54 were rising quickly, with 16 percent of cases being among each age group.

During Tuesday’s Marion County Commission meeting, Mark Lander, the administrator of the Department of Health in Marion County, confirmed that he also was seeing numbers rise among residents older than 34. He said that is a big concern, as the virus is known to be more dangerous for older residents, particularly those above 65 years of age.

DeSantis’ reasoning still doesn’t explain a disturbing trend in the Sumter County portion of The Villages. On June 3, there were 77 cases in The Villages, where the majority of residents fall into the category of those most vulnerable to COVID-19. Of those, 67 were in Sumter County, nine were in Lake County and one was in the Marion County portion of the sprawling retirement community.

As of Tuesday morning, those numbers had increased significantly. In fact, there are now 314 cases in the mega-retirement community, with 293 being identified in Sumter County, 19 in Lake County and two in the Marion County section of the community. Across the tri-county area, there are now 7,053 cases – 859 in Sumter County, 3,473 in Lake County and 2,721 in Marion County.

The breakdown by day of COVID-19 cases across the state, beginning the day after DeSantis’ Phase Two announcement, is as follows: