COVID-19 claims four more lives in Manatee County. State death toll at 1,669
Four more COVID-19 deaths have been officially reported in Manatee County, as the statewide death toll climbs to 1,669.
There are now 72 people confirmed to have died in Manatee County because of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
Including the local deaths, there were 69 new reported statewide. Those other deaths were reported in Brevard, Broward, Charlotte, Miami-Dade, Duval, Escambia, Highlands, Hillsborough, Lee, Palm Beach, Pinellas, Polk, Santa Rosa, Sarasota, Seminole, Suwannee and Volusia counties.
Statewide there are now just under 40,000 cases of people who have tested positive for the virus.
Locally, the latest data released by the Florida Department of Health on Friday morning only accounts for 282 tests, although there are hundreds if not thousands of tests pending with testing becoming more widely available. Of the now total of 7,061 tests reported, the rate of people testing positive in Manatee County now stands at 10.5%.
Statewide, 7.6% of those tested have been positive for the coronavirus.
The National Guard run regional testing site located near the Mall at the University Town Center swabbed 753 people on Friday, making a total of 3,637 people who have been tested in the six days since the drive-thru first opened.
The COVID-19 hospitalization rate remains high, with 24% of those testing positive having to be hospitalized compared to 18% statewide. As Friday, current hospitalizations were up slightly, with 175 people in the county’s three local hospitals.
Manatee County’s death rate also remains higher than the state average with 10% of all those who have tested positive dying. The statewide rate is 4%.
Long-term care facilities continue to be hot spots with 44 of the county’s COVID-19 death being residents or staffers at these facilities.
As of Thursday, there were 96 positive residents in the eight skilled nursing homes and three assisted living facilities that currently have confirmed cases, according to Friday’s report. An additional 55 residents from these facilities have been transferred to other facilities or hospitals. Currently, these facilities are reporting 67 staffers who are positive.
In Sarasota County, there are now 742 people who have tested positive for the coronavirus, 6.8% of those tested. Sarasota has had 54 confirmed COVID-19 deaths.
There are now 1,371 confirmed cases of people who have been positive for the virus in Hillsborough County, 4.8% of those tested.. Hillsborough has had 37 COVID-19 deaths. In Pinellas County meanwhile, there are 828 confirmed cases to date, with 4.5% of these tested being positive. The death toll in Pinellas stands at 59.
This story was originally published May 8, 2020 at 12:30 PM.
