Florida Sets New Daily Record With 9,585 COVID-19 Cases
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - The Florida Department of Health reported a new record daily number of COVID-19 cases with 9,585 on Saturday.
On Friday, the state reported what had been a new record with 8,942 cases.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has said that the increase in daily coronavirus cases is due to increased testing.
"Really nothing has changed in the past week. We had a big test dump," Gov. DeSantis said.
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Governor DeSantis has said that despite requests from many state officials, he is not going to mandate masks in the state.
The governor has said he is leaving it to the counties, local governments, and municipalities.
Governor DeSantis said he's going to "trust people to make good decisions."
A total of 3,390 deaths had been reported in the state.
Miami-Dade County reported 1,366 new cases on Saturday for a total of 31,562 with 962 deaths.
Broward had 726 new cases for a total of 14,046. There have been 404 deaths in the county.
On Friday, Miami-Dade County announced it would reclose beaches from July 3 to July 7.
But the closure could be extended if numbers do not improve.
Leaders say it's because coronavirus is spreading and hospitals are seeing more sick people.
"We cannot turn back and overload our hospitals. We are putting our doctors and nurses at greater risk with more emergency room cases. Everyone must do their part and follow the rules," said Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez.
On Saturday, Mayor Gimenez said there's one age group he's disappointed in for not following guidelines.
"Unfortunately too many young people, ages 18 to 34, are not following the rules and they are jeopardizing everyone's health," said Gimenez
The mayor also tweeted, "Today's new normal dashboard confirms that we must all take personal responsibility, practicing social distancing, while wearing masks indoors and outdoors in places where distancing isn't possible. Tamp down numbers by keeping yourself and others safe."
There is no downward trajectory in the dashboard and the positive rate is averaging 15-percent in the county. The goal is to be below ten.
The county is training a team of people called Strategic Urban Response to visit hotspots.
"Reach out to residents in virus hotspots throughout the county and give them testing information, masks, and hand sanitizers, and information on how to keep themselves safe," said Gimenez
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez says even though there is a citywide mask mandate, everything is still on the table.
"We have a meeting on Monday with the department of health, our epidemiologist, and statisticians where we typically make some decisions if we have to make changes," said Mayor Suarez.
As for the 4th of July, the county mayor encourages people to stay home or in their cars to view the fireworks.
CBS4 spoke to a couple who plan to do just that.
They say everybody should know how to stay home and make the best of their time.
"Same thing it was three months ago. You know what I mean? You just have to enjoy it while it lasts and that's it."
The big question is, will people take their swimsuits to Broward's beaches?
Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis told us Saturday, it's likely Broward will join Miami-Dade.
"If all of Miami-Dade closed their beaches, the likelihood that may of them would just come up to Fort Lauderdale or Hollywood or any of the Broward beaches," the mayor said.
The mayor the concern of overcrowding is not a risk they're willing to take, especially with a surge in cases.
"We are probably also going to take that step forward and close our beaches for the 4th of July weekend," he said.
Earlier Friday, the state banned alcohol consumption at bars.
