The people in Florida who are known to be infected with the new coronavirus visited at least 46 states and traveled to every continent except Antarctica in the weeks before they tested positive for COVID-19, a USA TODAY Network-Florida analysis of state infection data found.

Travel-related cases dominated the test results in early March when the virus was first identified in Florida. They have become a smaller share of the total number of cases as the virus spreads through communities.

Florida's first case was counted on March 2. In the first 10 days of the outbreak in the state, more than 80% of cases — or 23 of 28 — were travel related.

Travel-related cases continued to outnumber non-travel cases through March 19.

But as the virus took hold around the state, non-travel cases and cases where travel history is still under investigation began growing faster. From March 20 through April 1, only 17% of Florida's COVID-19 cases involved known travel, according to the analysis.

The USA TODAY Network-Florida analyzed the Florida Department of Health's travel data from March 2 through the morning of April 2.

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"We would originally expect to see cases coming into the United States and in Florida from areas where known transmission was occurring, bringing it into those initial cities and populations and infecting individuals in those areas," said Jerne Shapiro, a University of Florida field epidemiologist.

"Those individuals would then spread the virus within their communities, their families, their friends and their co-workers."

Florida’s travel data show how interconnected the globe has become and how the virus has stymied international leaders’ efforts to contain it.

In the days and weeks before they got sick, Florida’s travelers visited cultural meccas like France, Japan, Egypt and Israel.

They went to tropical destinations like Aruba and Jamaica. A 38-year-old woman from the Tampa region got sick after returning fromf Bosnia and Herzegovina in southern Europe. A 59-year-old St. Johns County man tested positive after a trip to Burkina Faso in western Africa.

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Some travelers visited multiple places, domestically and internationally.

A 34-year-old Santa Rosa County woman, for example, traveled to Maryland, Minnesota, Virginia, Washington, Washington, D.C., the United Kingdom and Ireland before her diagnosis in late March, according to Department of Health data.

Top domestic destinations: New York, Colorado and Georgia

People infected with the coronavirus in Florida are known to have visited every state but Maine and North and South Dakota in the days and weeks before they were diagnosed, the analysis found.

They also traveled to Washington, D.C., as well as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, which are American territories.

New York, now the epicenter of the virus in the United States, was far and away the top destination for Florida travelers — at least 386 people infected with the virus in Florida visited the Empire State before their diagnosis, according to the health department data for March.

Coming in next were Colorado with 87 visits, Georgia with 69 and California with 65.

Read more: New York is at war with the coronavirus. Expect the same across the U.S.

In late March, Gov. Ron DeSantis mandated that travelers flying in to Florida from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut be quarantined for two weeks. Checkpoints were put in place on Interstate 95 and Interstate 10 to screen travelers driving into the state.

Florida's mandates came on the heels of the federal government's efforts to try to curb the spread of the virus.

President Donald Trump restricted travel from China — where the virus originated — on Jan. 31 and extended the travel restrictions to Europe on March 11.

He then closed the borders with Canada and Mexico to nonessential travel.

Trump said last week that he is considering limiting domestic flights between cities under siege by the pandemic.

Read more: Dr. Fauci warns of 'imported' coronavirus cases after travel ban lifts

Spain, UK and France are top foreign destinations

The top foreign destination for Florida travelers who are now infected with the virus was Spain, which saw 124 visitors from Florida who have since tested positive. More than 140,000 people have contracted COVID-19 in Spain and 13,798 people have died there as of Tuesday morning, according to the Spanish government.

Spain was followed by the United Kingdom (75), France (53) and Mexico (51) as the foreign destinations most visited by Florida travelers who have contracted the virus.

Italy, the first European country to see massive outbreaks of the virus and a nation that many experts see as a bellwether for the U.S., was not one of the Top 10 foreign destinations for Florida travelers who later tested positive for COVID-19. It was a travel destination for 23 people in Florida who contracted the virus.

Read more: Mike Pence: 'Italy may be the most comparable to the US' on coronavirus cases and deaths

Florida's travel data didn't include anyone whose travel destination was specifically listed as China, where COVID-19 originated. But two people in Florida who tested positive — men from Miami-Dade and Brevard counties — visited Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous administrative region of China.

In all, known Florida travelers who’ve contracted the virus visited at least 75 foreign locations before they were diagnosed, the analysis found.

And that’s likely just the tip of the iceberg.

In a majority of the cases listed in state reports as of the morning of April 2 – or 4,122 – the travel histories of the patients who tested positive were listed as unknown. The Florida Department of Health is still conducting epidemiological investigations of many of those cases, meaning the data could change, according to an email from the Florida State Emergency Operations Center.

And the health department reports don’t capture cases of people who contracted the virus while traveling and either don’t know they’ve been infected or haven't been tested.

Florida counties with most travel-related cases

Broward and Miami-Dade counties, which have had the most cases overall, also have the highest number of travel-related cases, 247 and 224 respectively. But as the virus has spread in South Florida, an increasing number of cases there aren’t travel-related.

Leon County in the Panhandle had the highest percentage of travel-related cases of all Florida counties with double-digit cases. Twenty-three of the 35 positive cases in Leon were travel related, or about 66%.

Leon was followed by Martin (64%), Marion (58%), Monroe (55%) and Brevard (54%) as the counties with the highest percentage of travel-related COVID-19 cases.

The counties with the lowest percentage of travel cases were Duval (6%), Miami-Dade (9%) and Palm Beach (12%).

Shapiro, the UF field epidemiologist, said communities that were exposed to the coronavirus first have had more time for community spread to occur.

But there are other factors that also could explain why some communities have higher and lower rates of travel-related cases, she said.

"The more people that live in a smaller area, the more likelihood that you’re going to come into contact with someone and spread the virus," she said.

"Also factors such as family housing units, cultural practices that different groups participate in, how we greet each other. Social norms, just between different areas throughout the state can vary greatly and impact the ability of the virus to spread from person to person."

Staff writer Melanie Payne contributed to this analysis.