Another Manatee County resident dies from COVID-19. Statewide total surpasses 2,000
Another Manatee County resident has died from COVID-19 as the state death toll passes 2,000, according to the latest data released on Tuesday by the Florida Department of Health.
Manatee County now has 82 people who have died from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus. Statewide, 2,049 people have died.
The latest confirmed death in Manatee was connected to one of the county’s long-term care facilities.
The latest 55 deaths announced were reported in Broward, Calhoun, Charlotte, Collier, Miami-Dade, Desoto, Duval, Escambia, Hillsborough, Manatee, Martin, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Sarasota, St. Lucie, Volusia and Walton counties.
The latest data released also included 21 new confirmed cases in Manatee County of people testing positive for the virus, making 888 total cases. The state has more than 500 new cases, with the total number of cases at 46,944.
The DOH official who was managing Florida’s public “dashboard” of COVID-19 data has called into question how accurate the data being released is, after she says she was removed from that role for refusing to delete data. Rebekah Jones, the geographic information system manager for DOH’s Division of Disease Control and Health Protection, has since been forced to resign.
The latest data appears to reveal a backlog of tests in Manatee County, with results of 1,440 tests being included. The positive rate, meanwhile, continues to drop with 7.8% of the total completed tests being positive.
With 534 test results released, Sarasota County now has 533 cases of people who have tested positive for the coronavirus. Sarasota County’s death official death toll has risen to 63.
In Hillsborough County there are now 1,670 total cases reported, with 60 deaths. Pinellas County meanwhile has 1,062 total cases, with a death toll of 71.
This story was originally published May 19, 2020 at 11:58 AM.
