Nearly 7,000 infections and 85 deaths, with the highest COVID-19 death toll in Palm Beach County

By: - March 31, 2020 9:14 pm

Novel coronavirus SARS CoV2, which causes COVID-19. The virus is now creating mutations that are spreading in the United States and elsewhere. Credit: National Institute on Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Coronavirus infections have soared to nearly 7,000 and the death toll has reached 85, with Palm Beach County now exceeding Broward in the number of deaths.

As of Tuesday evening, Palm Beach had 14 deaths, the highest in the state, followed by Broward, with 13 deaths, according to the Florida Department of Health.

Palm Beach County is home to President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, where guests have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to news reports. Trump last year declared himself a Florida resident, the New York Times reported.

Just Monday morning, the COVID-19 tally was 5,473, but now it’s 6,741, more than 1,200 infections in that short period of time.

Miami-Dade has now exceeded the 2,000 mark, with 2,123 infections. Broward has 1,219 and Palm Beach, 551. Those three counties have been considered the coronavirus pandemic in Florida, and those counties are now on lockdown, along with Monroe County.

The health department data show that 55 counties now have at least one COVID-19 infection, and only 12 counties have zero infections. Small rural counties have been hanging on, hoping they would remain virus-free, but several of those counties have fallen off the virus-free list in the past few days.

The data suggests that all 67 counties in Florida could have at least one COVID-19 infection in the ensuing days or weeks.

Orange and Hillsborough now have more than 300 infections and Duval and Lee have more than 200.

In addition to Palm Beach and Broward, Lee County has 8 deaths, Miami-Dade has 7; Clay and Pinellas have 5 deaths.

The average age of death was 75, and 67 percent of the deaths have been males.

 

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Diane Rado
Diane Rado

Diane Rado has covered state and local government and public schools in six states over some 30 years, focusing on policy and investigative stories as well as legislative and political reporting. She is married to a journalist and has three adult children.

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