Florida Coronavirus Deaths Surpass 10,000; Decline In Cases A 'Positive Sign', DeSantis Says

Florida's death toll from COVID-19 topped 10,000 on Wednesday while the Sunshine State also received some promising news about containing the pandemic.

Florida's total deaths reached 10,067, the fifth highest in the country. It also has the third highest number of confirmed cases with 584,047, trailing only California and Texas in that category.

However, new daily cases and hospitalizations are showing a welcome daily decline. Florida reported 4,115 new cases Wednesday, the fourth time in a week the number has been fewer than 5,000. The state reported 174 deaths Wednesday, a decrease from recent trends.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis latched on to the good news of fewer daily new cases and hospitalizations. Pointing to both metrics, DeSantis said, "Those are all good trends, those are all positive signs.”

On the other hand, FDOH isn't prepared to declare victory over the disease. It said the positivity rate has to drop significantly for it to determine if the current leveling off is a clear trend.

The state's positivity rate Tuesday stood at 7.08%, the lowest point over the last five days. While it's under 10%, which is good news, the positivity rate has to remain under 10% for at least two weeks for any definitive conclusion to be reached. Health officials say a 5% positivity rate is needed to control the spread of the disease.

Hospitalizations are also down. The Agency for Healthcare Administration said there were 5,350 patients with COVID-19 in hospitals, as of Wednesday. This number is 134 patients fewer than Tuesday. There were 505 patients admitted to hospitals on the same day. This number brought to 35,200 people the number of those hospitalized since the first confirmed COVID-19 case in Florida on March 1.

While Florida’s weekly death average is easing, half of all deaths were reported in the last month alone. The Florida Department of Health (FDOH) reported 200 daily deaths 10 times over the past month. Florida trails only New York, New Jersey, California and Texas in total deaths.