BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) — Duval County in Florida has reopened beaches and started to relax restrictions while the Florida death count rises to 726, the hospitalization count rises to 3,649 and the statewide COVID-19 infection total soars past 24,743.
Duval County includes Jacksonville.
The first wave of Saturday numbers from the Florida Department of Health reflects what we’ve been reporting for several days — a complete lack of consistency with the count of “new” infections — the most important metric when determining whether or not restrictions should be eased.
After a low of “new” reported cases on April 14th — with 610 — April 15th brought 937, April 16th brought 1,200 new cases, while Friday — April 17th — brought 869. There has been NO consistent decline in new cases since numbers were released. Health department guidelines call for two weeks of consistently declining numbers.
On Friday, Palm Beach County Mayor Dave Kerner said he is in “lock step” with leaders from Broward County and Miami-Dade County that restrictions will not be eased until they can be eased simultaneously in all three counties.
There are at least 2,088 confirmed COVID-19 infections in Palm Beach County.
In Boca Raton, there are at least 327 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 271 in Delray Beach, 271 in Boynton Beach as of early Saturday morning. The Palm Beach County infection count is now at least 2125
