South Florida was cut off from the rest of the state in a phase one reopening on Monday, but key health metrics show progress.
Florida Department of Health charts show a steady downward trend in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties for emergency room visits for people with COVID-19 and flu-like symptoms. The trend line is similar to statewide figures. Documented new cases of COVID-19 were down in all three counties for the past week as well.
That leaves a fourth metric of percent positive for laboratory testing, which has a target range of 5 percent positive tests. The latest figures were 5.71 percent for Broward County, 7.91 percent for Miami-Dade County and 6.6 percent for Palm Beach County. The statewide average was 5.77 percent.
Under the phase one that began in the rest of Florida on Monday, restaurants and non-essential retail stores can open at 25 percent capacity and hospitals can schedule non-emergency procedures. State parks also reopened outside of South Florida. Salons, barber shops, spas and other personal care businesses are still closed statewide. County parks reopened in South Florida last Wednesday. South Pointe Park in Miami Beach was closed again because after too many people violated social distancing rules.
As of Monday, here were key statistics for COVID-19:
- Deaths: 1,399 statewide, 208 in Broward, 378 in Miami-Dade, 196 in Palm Beach County
- Positive residents: 35,969 statewide, 5,249 in Broward, 12,956 in Miami-Dade, 3,250 in Palm Beach County
- Hospitalizations: 6,119 statewide, 1,026 in Broward, 1,664 in Miami-Dade, 470 in Palm Beach County
