Florida is a place so easy and breezy in America's imagination that they call it the Sunshine State.

It's known for amusement parks, citrus trees and 2,100 kilometres of coastline, a place where the daily temperature averages 21.5 degrees and America's east coast hustle feels far away.

All that warmth and serenity make it a top tourist destination, a haven for elderly retirees and (you guessed it) a perfect cocktail of coronavirus vulnerabilities.

There's another ingredient to mention, which is that the southernmost state has been widely criticised for its lack of preparation.

Florida's first statewide stay-at-home order came on April 1, a month after its first confirmed case.

Despite a large number of COVID-19 cases in Florida, the state was not locked down until April. ( Reuters: Carlos Barria )

On the surface, it's not as bad as it could be.

The state has a population of over 21 million but only reported 25,000 confirmed cases at the time of writing. In comparison, New York (population 19 million) has over 200,000.

South Florida is roughly the eighth biggest hotspot in the US.

But testing in the state was substantially delayed and a shortage of kits remains.

While the curve is starting to flatten in places like New York, Florida's is just starting to round. It may not reach its peak for another two weeks.

As parts of the United States set dates for reopening, sunny Florida is still watching the storm brewing, bracing for the possibility it comes down hard.

'If I get corona, I get corona'

The fact that its $134 billion AUD tourism industry is the backbone of Florida's economy is no doubt a reason the state continued to entertain visitors well past the first social distancing guidelines.

An average of 2.7 million university students go to Florida for spring break every year. ( Reuters: Carlos Barria )

By mid-March, some of Florida's biggest conventions and festivals had been cancelled, but in some counties, the beaches, bars and airports remained open until April.

The biggest problem lies with the thousands of university students who flocked to Florida last month, unwilling to let a coronavirus postpone their spring break traditions.

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One 22-year-old man, Brady Sluder, came to represent the defiant attitude held by some of the group, as well as the false belief that youth made them immune from the virus's worst effects.

"If I get corona, I get corona," Mr Sluder said in a viral news clip.

"At the end of the day, I'm not going to let it stop me from partying. I've been waiting — we've been waiting — for Miami spring break for a while."

He's since publicly apologised, writing that he realises his "responsibility to listen and follow the recommendations in our communities".

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Some tourists tested positive after returning home

For others, it wasn't a lack of civic duty but a lack of clear instructions that brought them to the beach parties.

Kayley Watkins (right) went to Florida for spring break and contracted COVID-19. ( Supplied: Kayley Watkins )

Kayley Watkins, an 18-year-old student at the University of Memphis, travelled to Panama City in early March, before the Centres for Disease Control (CDC) issued national social distancing guidelines.

"At that point, no one had enough information to realise what a big deal it was," she said.

"No one said anything … everything was open. The government officials and business owners didn't have any social distancing rules in place."

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Ms Watkins, who has a compromised immune system due to a connective tissue disorder, drove back to Tennessee as soon as she heard the National Basketball Association had suspended its season and her school had extended spring break holidays.

Four days after her return, she started experiencing severe stomach pain. A few days later she tested positive for COVID-19.

Kayley drove home from Florida to Tennessee while positive for COVID-19, but did not pass on the virus to anyone else. ( Supplied: Kaley Watkins )

"I literally couldn't believe it. It was that moment of, 'wow this is hitting home now'," she said.

"I wish the officials had said something before we went on spring break. If I would've known ahead of time, I never would have gone."

Ms Watkins, now fully recovered, says she's grateful that no one she interacted with tested positive.

"COVID-19 doesn't discriminate against age or any factor. Just because it won't affect you doesn't mean it won't affect the people around you," she said.

Florida's aging population is at high risk

Community spread is a top concern in Florida, where nearly a quarter of the population is 65 or older, and some 160,000 of those most vulnerable residents live tightly-packed in the states' 1,300 assisted-living homes.

The state's health department confirmed that one in four of Florida's coronavirus deaths were linked to assisted-living homes.

But those are just the known cases.

Testing is so low that Florida's governor Ron DeSantis dispatched the National Guard to swab entire aged care facilities.

Though the overall outlook is still fuzzy, stories surfacing from the industry paint a grim picture.

Brandy Kinsey, for example, quit her job as a nurse at the Suwannee Health and Rehabilitation Centre in Live Oak because she felt the nursing home was trying to hide its cases.

Brandy quit her job as a nurse at an aged care facility because she felt her superiors were trying to keep quiet the number of COVID-19 cases there. ( Supplied: Brandy Kinsey )

Ms Kinsey said one resident shared that she'd tested positive on Facebook and management asked her to delete the post.

Another resident died after testing positive and the facility failed to notify the family.

"When they told me that two employees had it, that's when I started to get worried," said the mother of two young children with health conditions.

"We had people who were still working there while being sick."

Ms Kinsey said she'd asked management how the centre was responding to the outbreak, and they told her not to worry about it.

She quit after hearing stories about an employee who informed her boss that she'd been in contact with a confirmed COVID-19 patient and was told she still needed to report to work or risk termination.

"It's crazy," Ms Kinsey said. "It's very irresponsible … I have no idea what's going on there."

The centre's managers have defended their handling of the pandemic and denied allegations of a cover-up, saying "it is extremely disappointing to hear false and hurtful statements reported".

Retirement villages and aged care facilities in Florida have experienced outbreaks of COVID-19 cases. ( Reuters: Yana Paskova )

Governor DeSantis said last week that 51 people at the 170-bed centre had tested positive for the virus, including 30 employees.

But for most other nursing homes, the state has followed strict privacy guidelines, refusing to disclose the size and location of outbreaks.

Across Florida, nursing homes are bracing for the days when blame starts to be laid.

The state's largest aged care advocacy group reportedly sent a letter to the Governor, requesting "immunity from any liability, civil or criminal" for their role in spreading COVID-19.

The Governor has yet to issue a response.

Florida's Republican politics play a big role

For now, no one has received more blame for Florida's perilous position than Governor DeSantis himself.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has been criticised by some for being slow to act to stop the spread of coronavirus. ( AP: Lynne Sladky )

Mr DeSantis has been accused of making several false claims in defending his decision to wait until April to issue stay-at-home orders.

He told reporters Florida had no community spread while outbreaks were developing at local nursing homes.

Weeks after he refused to close public beaches packed with spring-breakers, he said that there hadn't been a single US COVID-19 fatality among patients under the age of 25.

The Centres for Disease Control has counted nine.

He classified the state's pro-wrestling industry as an "essential business," and promised that Hydroxychloroquine — an anti-malarial drug that has not been proven as a treatment for COVID-19 — would be made readily available to residents.

President Donald Trump has defended Mr DeSantis in remarks to reporters, saying he's "a great governor" who "knows exactly what he's doing" in handling the pandemic. The two have a close political relationship.

Mr DeSantis, a congressional backbencher, was considered a longshot candidate for Florida Governor in 2018.

That all changed when he won an endorsement from Mr Trump and started campaigning on his similarities to the President.

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The political swing state that delivered the Governor a victory will be critical to President Trump's re-election.

State eyes reopening economy under Trump's guidance

When pressed why he waited so long to enact statewide emergency orders, Mr DeSantis cited a change in President Trump's demeanour.

Florida's stay-at-home order is set to expire on April 30, but health experts say the state needs more rigorous testing before reopening. ( Reuters: Marco Bello )

He also cited Mr Trump when signalling that he's now turning his attention to how to reopen Florida's economy.

His statewide shelter-in-place order is set to expire on April 30.

Protesters, who support President Trump's call to reopen the economy, are putting pressure on Florida state officials to lift social distancing measures. ( AP: John Raoux )

Health experts across the state agree that Florida must first expand its ability to test those who suspect they have COVID-19, then perform contact tracing on those whose results come back positive.

Testing may rely on how many kits state and federal authorities can provide, but for now, Florida's contact tracing is performed by a volunteer army of university staff and students. They added 100 to the roster last month.

One organiser said she had no problem getting sign-ups. As they watched the storm brewing, these Floridians were eager and willing to help.

That's one silver lining for the Sunshine State.