COVID-19 kills two more people in Manatee County. Across Florida, almost 500 are dead
There were two additional COVID-19-related deaths confirmed in Manatee County on Monday as the state death toll reached 499 people, according to the Florida Department of Health.
There were also 16 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Manatee County.
As of Monday evening, Manatee County had 252 cases of people who have tested positive for the new coronavirus, which causes the respiratory disease COVID-19. Statewide, there were 1,124 more people who have tested positive for the virus, bringing the total number of cases to 21,019.
The state health department confirmed an additional 38 deaths because of COVID-19, including in Manatee, Sarasota, Brevard, Lee and Palm Beach counties.
A total of 15 deaths have been reported in Manatee County. Two additional deaths were reported in Sarasota County, bringing the total there to 14.
Sarasota County also had new reported cases of COVID-19. The state health department raised the county’s total number of cases to 233 on Monday morning but then adjusted the number down to 230 cases in an evening update.
The number of cases of COVID-19 in long-term care facilities in Florida continues to grow as 962 staffers and residents have now tested positive. Of those, there are 33 cases in facilities in Manatee County, including the Braden River Rehabitialtion Center and at least two other facilities.
State and local health departments, as well as Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office, have refused to release the names of facilities with COVID-19 cases. The Bradenton Herald’s sister paper, the Miami Herald, is filing a public records lawsuit in order to force the state to divulge the names of all facilities that have had a positive test for the coronavirus.
During a news conference Monday afternoon, DeSantis said that the Florida Department of Health “strike teams” had visited 93 facilities statewide. DeSantis said he was directing the Florida National Guard to create an additional 10 teams of four to send out to help with aggressive testing at the facilities most affected. Most of those facilities will be in Southeast Florida, according to DeSantis.
Manatee County has 60 licensed skilled nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
Elsewhere in the Tampa Bay area, Hillsborough County continues to have the highest number of COVID-19 cases with 813 people testing positive for the coronavirus, as of Monday morning. Of those, there have been 16 deaths. In Pinellas County, there were 479 people who have tested positive for the coronavirus, 13 of whom have died.
As of Monday morning’s release of the latest information from the Florida Department of Health, with 252 confirmed cases of COVID-19, Manatee County had already surpassed the IEM model projection of 249 cases for the day without the afternoon update.
Based on Monday morning’s projections, Manatee County is projected to have 343 cases by Sunday.
The positive test rate for COVID-19 in Manatee County remains higher than in neighboring counties. Of tests administered in Manatee, 14.3 percent have come back positive. The statewide positive rate is 10.5 percent.
A high positivity rate can be an indicator that testing is still too limited in a given area, health experts have said.
This story was originally published April 13, 2020 at 12:00 PM.
