15 FL Counties In Red Zone: White House Coronavirus Task Force

FLORIDA — Fifteen Florida counties are in the red zone when it comes to the severity of the COVID-19 outbreak, the White House Coronavirus Task Force said in a recent report. Red zones have more than 100 new cases per 100,000 residents and a diagnostic test positivity result of above 10 percent.

The reports, while not made public by the task force, have been obtained by Naseem Miller of the Orlando Sentinel and posted on The Center for Public Integrity website. The most recent report made available is dated Nov. 22.

Florida had 246 new cases per 100,000 population, compared to a national average of 356 per 100,000 in late November.

Florida is in the orange zone for test positivity, indicating a rate between 8.0 percent and 10.0 percent. The report said the state has seen week over week increasing hospitalizations. "Florida
must increase its mitigation as hospitalizations rise and (long-term care facilities) are again under full threat," the report said.

Three counties had the highest number of new cases over the last three weeks: Miami-Dade County, Broward County, and Palm Beach County. These counties represent 38.5 percent of new cases in Florida.

Eighty-five percent of all counties in Florida have moderate or high levels of community transmission (yellow, orange, or red zones), with 22 percent having high levels of community transmission (red zone).

Overall, Florida is classified in the red zone for COVID-19 cases with and shows signs of a continued viral surge, the report said. Its red zone status of 101 or more new cases per 100,000 population, with the 37th highest rate in the country that week. Florida is in the yellow zone for test positivity, indicating a rate between 5.0 percent and 7.9 percent, with the 42nd highest rate in the country.

As a result of the accelerating outbreak, the report offers several recommendations to help slow the pandemic's expected post- Thanksgiving surge:

• Expanded, strategic use of point-of-care antigen tests with immediate results should be used among all people independent of symptoms in orange and red counties in Florida.
• If you are over 65 or have significant health conditions, you should not enter any indoor public spaces where anyone is unmasked due to the immediate risk to your health; you should have groceries and medications delivered. If you are under 40, you need to assume you became infected during the Thanksgiving period if you gathered beyond your immediate household. You must isolate away from anyone at increased risk for severe disease and get tested immediately.
• It is essential to prepare for and limit a post-Thanksgiving resurgence. Improved public observance of social distancing measures is urgently needed to limit overrunning hospital capacity and preventable deaths.
• Limiting travel throughout the next several weeks is an additional key mitigation measure.
• Ensure indoor masking around vulnerable family members during any gatherings due to significant amount of virus circulating and the high rate of asymptomatic and undiagnosed infections among family and community members.
• Public spaces where masking is not possible must have a significant reduction in capacity or close.
• Ensure increased frequency of long-term care facility testing and rapid implementation of vaccination into LTCF as vaccine becomes available.
• There are early signs of reduced N95, gown, and glove supply in specific hospitals’ reporting. Contact the regional FEMA office for support if this supply issue is confirmed.
• Ensure all universities returning in the winter move to mandatory weekly testing of all on and off campus students. Planning for that must begin now.

Seven metro localities in the red zone are: Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, Homosassa Springs, Sebring-Avon Park, Key West, Arcadia and Clewiston.

Fifteen counties are in the red zone: Miami-Dade, Broward, Okaloosa, Citrus, Santa Rosa, Walton, Highlands, Monroe, Hernando, DeSoto, Washington and Hendry.

The latest White House Coronavirus Task Force report for Florida comes as cases continue to climb throughout the state.

Florida on Saturday confirmed 1,058,074 total cases of COVID-19, an increase of 8,229 cases among residents. Another 146 confirmed deaths were reported on Dec. 1st and 2nd, the highest two-day total since June.

So far, a total of Resident Hospitalizations

A total of 56,457 Florida residents have been hospitalized by the respiratory disease, and 19,177 Floridians have died. One death was recorded Saturday on the state's coronavirus database; Sunday numbers had not been posted as of 6 p.m.

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Spikes in new cases and tests come a little more than a week after Thanksgiving. Officials have urged people who traveled or gathered in large groups for the holiday to get tested for the virus.

"If your family traveled, you have to assume that you are exposed and you became infected and you really need to get tested in the next week," Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, said on the CBS show "Face the Nation" last week.

"You need to avoid anyone in your family with co-morbidities" or those over age 65, Birx said to those who may have been exposed, as older adults and people with underlying medical conditions are at greatest risk of complications from the virus.

The coronavirus primarily spreads from person-to-person contact, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends avoiding getting the virus by putting 6 feet of distance between one another to decrease the likelihood of its transmission as well as frequent hand-washing, staying home when sick and wearing a face covering when around other people.

With reporting by Kara Seymour