Coronavirus ‘Red Zone’: 39 Florida Counties Rank High

FLORIDA — The number of new coronavirus cases in Florida dropped by 11 percent week over week according to a Jan. 31 report from the White House coronavirus response team.

Between Jan. 25-31, there were 69,593 new COVID-19 cases reported in the state, marking a drop in new cases, the White House said.

The test positivity dropped a bit from the prior week at 10.9 percent, according to the report. That’s a 1.2 percent decrease.

Deaths also slightly increased by 3 percent in the state over the week, the report said. Between Jan. 25-31, there were 1,243 coronavirus deaths in Florida.

Meanwhile, the confirmed number of COVID-19 cases decreased in the state by 7 percent. At the same time hospitals facing supply shortages increased by 12 percent over the past week while those with staff shortages remained about the same.

The latest White House report was released as Florida’s total number of cases steadily increases. Since the pandemic, the Sunshine State has seen 1,737,640 total cases, according to state data. This includes more than 10,000 new cases reported Tuesday.

The total number of hospitalizations has reached 72,858 since March and 26,822 deaths of residents.

According to the White House report, 39 Florida counties remain in the “red zone” based on the number of new cases and test positivity over the past week. These “red zone” counties include:

• Miami-Dade
• Broward
• Palm Beach
• Duval
• Polk
• Escambia
• Osceola
• Leon
• Marion
• Lake
• Bay
• St. Lucie
• Santa Rosa
• Okaloosa
• Clay
• Indian River
• Hernando
• Citrus
• Sumter
• Flagler
• Putnam
• Highlands
• Columbia
• Gadsden
• Wakulla
• Okeechobee
• Hendry
• Levy
• Taylor
• Hardee
• Bradford
• Gulf
• Franklin
• Madison
• Dixie
• Hamilton
• Liberty
• Gilchrist
• Union