TOPLINE
Florida reported 11,458 new daily Covid-19 cases over the previous 24 hours Saturday, a record-breaking figure for the state and beating the previous high set just two days ago as it continues to face a massive surge of new infections.
Florida topped its own single-day record Saturday for most new Covid-19 cases.
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KEY FACTS
According to Reuters, Saturday is the second occasion in just three days that the Florida Department of Health tallied new cases in the five-figure range.
The figure comes a week after Florida shuttered its bars again, and after Broward and Miami-Dade counties—which both saw new record county-wide daily spikes Saturday—closed beaches ahead of the July 4 weekend, along with Collier, Martin, Monroe and Palm Beach counties.
Besides South Florida, beaches in the rest of the state remained largely open, according to Florida Today.
Saturday also marked a record for the most Covid-19 test submissions, 10 Tampa Bay reported, with just more than 14% of the 85,086 test results submitted coming up positive for infection, slightly less than the record 16% positive rate the state reported on Tuesday last week.
Florida has counted 190,052 confirmed infections to date, according to the health department.
BIG NUMBER
2.8 million. That’s how many people in America have tested positive for Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, according to a Johns Hopkins University count on Saturday. According to a CNN analysis based on the university’s data, Florida is leading all 50 states with the highest average of daily new cases, followed by California and Texas.
KEY BACKGROUND
Florida’s new daily cases are beginning to rival that of New York at its April peak of new cases, Forbes reported, with 12,274 cases tallied in New York on April 4 being the all-time record for daily new cases in a U.S. state since the pandemic began. Florida isn’t the only state counting an increase in infections—most U.S. states are experiencing upticks, according to a New York Times analysis, especially those in the south and the west.
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