UPDATE: 6:30 p.m. The turnpike is opened — or in the process of reopening. Expect major delays. A quick look at traffic cams at 6:50 p.m. shows significant backups. Use FL511.com for the latest.
BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) — Something doesn’t seem quite right. Florida logged another 177 COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday through 11:59 p.m. with 2,618 new infections. Palm Beach County logged 22 new COVID deaths — among the highest in recent weeks — with 119 new infections. But the Florida Department of Health says the Florida positivity rate is 4.45 percent while it’s 3.16 in Palm Beach County.
To put it another way: the death rates are approaching levels we saw during the summer peak, yet the official position of the Florida Department of Health is that there’s very low COVID-19 occurrence in Florida. That raises the question, why are so many people dying from COVID if we are to believe that COVID levels are so low?
As of Thursday, 693,040 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Florida. The death count is 13,795. In Palm Beach County, 45,866 people have tested positive for COVID-19 with 13,795 deaths.
Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center reports that Florida’s 7-day moving positivity average is 11.2-percent.
