Manatee County has third COVID-19 death and 17 new cases. State total tops 7,700
A 77-year-old man who tested positive for COVID-19 is the third person to die from the disease in Manatee County, according to the latest data from by the Florida Department of Health.
The state health department also confirmed 17 new positive cases of COVID-19 in Manatee County, bringing the total here to 70. On Wednesday the statewide total spiked by more than 1,000.
There are now a total of 7,773 confirmed cases statewide, 7,495 of whom were Florida residents.
Two new deaths were reported on Wednesday morning and 14 more were reported in the evening, bringing the death toll to 101 people in Florida.
Included in that number are three Manatee County residents. The second Manatee County COVID-19 death was announced on Tuesday. It involved a 68-year-old man who contracted the coronavirus after recently traveling to France. The third person who died was a 77-year-old man. The case was not travel related, and the man did not have contact with a confirmed case before contracting the disease, according to the state health department.
Testing in Manatee remains limited; only 499 people had been tested as of Wednesday evening.
Of those tested in Manatee, 14% have tested positive, a percentage that is indicative that more testing is needed to determine how widespread the virus is in the community.
An increasing number of younger people are also testing positive in Manatee County. Of the people who have tested positive since Monday, 13 have been in their 30’s or 40’s, and one was 20-years-old, according to the state health department.
Sarasota County has 13 new cases as of Wednesday evening, bringing the total number of cases there to 99. Sarasota continues to outpace Manatee in testing, with 929 people already tested.
The state health department has confirmed three deaths in Sarasota County.
Sarasota Memorial Hospital reported the death of two additional COVID-19 patients on Wednesday, bringing the total who have died at the hospital to five. A total of 50 patients have tested positive, and 29 remain hospitalized, according to the hospital. The remainder have been discharged.
In the Tampa Bay area, Hillsborough County has 48 new cases, bringing its total to 351 cases out of 4,824 people tested. Pinellas County has 45 new cases, bringing its total to 212 cases out of 3,068 people tested.
This story was originally published April 1, 2020 at 11:54 AM.
