What to Know
- Florida's new COVID-19 total rose to 328 Wednesday, including 299 Florida residents and 29 non-Florida residents
- Broward still leads the state with 80 total cases, with Miami-Dade not far behind at 77
- Some 954 results in the state were still pending
More than 100 new coronavirus cases were confirmed in Florida Wednesday, bringing the total to more than 300 along with another death related to the virus, state health officials said.
The state's new total rose to 328, including 299 Florida residents and 29 non-Florida residents, according to the Florida Department of Health. Broward still leads the state with 80 total cases, with Miami-Dade not far behind at 77. Some 1,140 results in the state were still pending.
CORONAVIRUS LATEST
In Palm Beach County, where there were 19 total cases, a 6-year-old tested positive for COVID-19, health officials said. The case involves a boy and it was unknown if it was travel-related, health officials said.
Total state deaths increased to 8, with the news that a person in Clay County who had previously tested positive for COVID-19 had died.
The recent deaths included an elderly resident of an assisted living facility in Fort Lauderdale who had tested positive for COVID-19. Two other residents of the Atria Willow Wood facility who died tested negative, officials said Wednesday.
The news comes as new drive-thru testing sites were opening in Miami-Dade. Broward was still awaiting a drive-thru testing site.
At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Broward Mayor Dale Holness said the National Guard was deploying a team of nurses and medics to operate a testing location at CB Smith Park in Pembroke Pines.
Holness said the county was ramping up efforts and keeping Port Everglades fully operational to ensure the delivery of cargo and fuel into the marketplace.
"We know and expect that more people will test positive. We must be vigilant against the spread of this dreadful disease," Holness said.
At a news conference Wednesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the site was expected to open by the end of the week and would have 100 National Guard members with 5 separate lanes, including one just for first responders. He said the initial goal was to be able to perform at least a couple hundred tests per day.
"We're gonna try to make it orderly, we're gonna try to make sure that people can get in and out, we don't want people waiting in line for four hours," DeSantis said.
On Tuesday, DeSantis ordered bars and nightclubs in Florida to close for 30 days and directed restaurants to operate at 50% of their maximum capacity to allow for social distancing.
"I don't want to shut every aspect of life down, I don't think that would be effective," DeSantis said Wednesday. "At the end of the day, you have people crowding into these places and that is creating the type of activity that we are being warned against."
State school officials said public schools would remain closed until April 15 and announced the suspension of mass campus gatherings, including sports events.
For more information on COVID-19 from the Florida Department of Health, click here
