Florida's coronavirus outbreak hit a pair of milestones Friday

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Florida’s coronavirus outbreak hit a pair of grim milestones Friday that underscore the serious public health concerns Gov. Ron DeSantis must weigh as he considers reopening the state.

The total number of coronavirus cases topped 30,000 and the number of deaths topped 1,000 on a day the task force established by DeSantis to offer recommendations on ending a statewide lockdown largely wrapped up its work.

The task force will submit a final report to DeSantis next week as he contemplates reopening and trying to strike a balance between protecting the economy and minimizing virus transmissions and deaths, which continue to be substantial.

The Florida Department of Health reported 30,533 confirmed cases of coronavirus Friday evening, an increase of 885 from Thursday evening’s count. The number of deaths increased by 59 to 1,046.

There have been 4,817 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Florida, a number that increased by 177 people Friday.

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Manatee County had 491 coronavirus cases and 42 deaths as of Friday evening, while Sarasota County had 314 cases and 32 deaths. There were three more deaths reported in Manatee County Friday — a 91-year-old man, a 55-year-old woman and 66-year-old woman.

While Florida continues to report a significant number of new coronavirus cases and deaths each day, DeSantis has noted that the daily number of new cases appears to have plateaued and the health care system has not been overwhelmed.

“We don’t see a threat to the hospital system and that’s a very, very good thing,” DeSantis said Friday.

Meanwhile, the state’s economy is being devastated by the lockdown that was imposed in early April.

DeSantis said he looks forward to reviewing the recommendations of his Re-Open Florida Task Force but has not set a date for reopening yet.

“Really, really impressed with a lot of the ideas and the discussions, and I think it’s really going to help us as we move forward here,” the governor told task force members Friday.

The governor’s office plans to work throughout the weekend on compiling the recommendations put together by the task force working groups into a final report.

Florida’s lockdown is set to expire at the end of April, but DeSantis said he is not tied to reopening then.

“I’m not concerned about specific dates as much as I am about getting it right,” DeSantis said, adding: “You want to make sure it’s safe but you also want to make sure it’s instilling confidence in people.”

Public health experts have warned against reopening too quickly.

“I would caution very strongly whether we should be lifting that order too soon,” said Dr. Cindy Prins, an epidemiologist at the University of Florida College of Public Health.

But task force members and advisers seem eager to get businesses operating again.

Sen. Wilton Simpson, a Trilby Republican who sits on the task force, said Friday he believes the state can reopen safely.

“As we move into reopening the economy we have learned a lot about how to protect our population,” Simpson said, adding: “I’m confident if we do this right we will be able to open our economy again safely.”

Simpson led a discussion Friday with health professionals, the insurance industry and other industries seeking to reopen.

Hospitals, doctors and dentists are pushing for the state to allow elective procedures, which were banned to conserve hospitals beds and personal protective equipment. The ban led to a steep decline in revenues for many health care businesses and furloughed workers.

Brandon Dental Care owner Dr. Rudy Liddell, who serves as the president of the Florida Dental Association board of trustees, said Friday that some dentists are “teetering on the edge” and there are concerns that dental practices will not reopen.

“Florida’s dentists are ready to get back to work and safety is the key,” Liddell said.

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One of the most detailed task force presentations Friday was by Halsey Beshears, who runs the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

Beshears said his agency has come up with guidelines for reopening a range of businesses, including barbershops, hotels and restaurants.

Among the recommendations: Barbershop and salon employees “should wear masks at all times and consider providing masks to clients” and hotels should “eliminate or reduce in person check in and check out with automated processes.”

It’s not clear if such practices would be required or simply recommended. Beshears said he does not want to require restaurants to take employees’ temperatures, arguing that “should be at the operators discretion.”

“This is just the common sense approach stuff,” Beshears said of the list his team put together.

Beshears is from North Florida, a region that he said should reopen immediately because of the lower number of coronavirus cases.

“We need to get these counties open at the very least,” he said, adding it might be better to have a phased reopening for more populous counties with more coronavirus cases.

North Florida has not been spared from the outbreak, though. A number of nursing homes in the region have been particularly hard hit.

Four counties in North Florida — Escambia, Suwanee, Clay and Leon — are among the top 10 for coronavirus cases tied to nursing homes, assisted living facilities and other long-term care facilities. Combined, the four counties have 433 cases tied to these facilities. Suwanee County has 10 COVID-19 deaths at these facilities, while Clay has nine and Escambia has eight.

A major concern if Florida reopens is the safety of elderly individuals who are more vulnerable to COVID-19.

On Friday the DOH reported that 2,682 coronavirus cases have been linked to residents or workers of long-term care facilities, with 296 deaths. There are 335 facilities that have reported a coronavirus case.

Manatee County has 172 coronavirus cases linked to long-term care facilities and 18 deaths, while Sarasota County has 54 cases and 14 deaths, according to DOH.

But Manatee’s numbers appear to be an undercount. A pair of nursing homes in Bradenton and Palmetto that are operated by the same company have reported a combined 23 COVID-19 deaths and more than 100 positive cases.

Both Sarasota and Manatee have been hotspots for COVID-19 deaths at long-term care facilities, with Manatee ranking fourth among Florida’s 67 counties and Sarasota ranking fifth.

“We have got to take extra precautions to protect our most vulnerable in nursing homes and ALFs and people with preexisting conditions and our front-line workers,” Simpson said.

While state leaders debate reopening the economy, those who have been left jobless are still struggling to get unemployment claims paid.

Florida’s unemployment system has buckled under the crush of new applications.

DeSantis noted the state made more than 200,000 payments this week totaling nearly $100 million, but there is still a massive backlog of unpaid claims.

The governor blamed the problems with the current unemployment claims processing system — which was established under former Gov. Rick Scott — on the design. Scott has been accused of intentionally making it difficult to file for unemployment.

“This thing was a clunker, there’s no doubt about it,” DeSantis said. “It was designed, with all these different things, to basically fail, I think.”

Tallahassee Democrat reporter Jeffrey Schweers contributed to this report.