Did Florida take the right coronavirus approach?
Former Arkansas Governor (R) and Fox News contributor Mike Huckabee discusses Florida's handling of coronavirus as cases continue to climb since its reopening in May.
New coronavirus cases in Florida reportedly surpassed 2,000 for the second day in a row on Sunday.
The state saw record high cases reported over a 24-hour period on Saturday and high case numbers also on Sunday. According to The Tampa Bay Times, there were 2,016 new cases reported over a 24-hour period on Sunday. The highest single-day surge came just a day prior, with 2,581 new cases on Saturday.
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By late morning on Monday, the state health department reported an additional 1,758 new cases, 20 of which were non-Florida residents. The department also reported seven Florida resident COVID-19 deaths.
The health department reported a total of 77,326 cases in Florida, which includes non-Florida residents tested in the state. As of Monday, the department reported 2,938 COVID-19 deaths.
According to the newspaper, Saturday marked the 12th consecutive day the number of new cases exceeded 1,000 in a 24-hour timeframe.
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The single-day surges from the weekend marked new heights since the Florida Department of Health began tracking infections in March 1, the outlet wrote.
The number of deaths reported on Sunday remained at a single digit for the first time this month, the newspaper wrote. The health department reported six Florida resident deaths on Sunday related to COVID-19. The number of patients hospitalized with coronavirus also declined Sunday with 68 new admissions, the newspaper reported.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on June 3 tweeted about declining numbers of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) hospitalizations and patients on ventilators. However since the protests over the death of George Floyd, who died in custody of the Minneapolis police, demographics of those becoming infected with the virus have continued to skew younger, according to Dr. Charles Lockwood, dean of the University of South Florida’s Morsani College of Medicine.
Lockwood told the newspaper that as patients become younger, the rate of new hospitalizations has continued to drop.
According to the New York Post, most of the state entered Phase 2 of DeSantis' reopening plan, under which bars, pubs and nightclubs deriving 50 percent of sales from alcohol are allowed to operate at 50 percent of building capacity. Restaurants are allowed to operate at no more than 75 percent of building capacity, among other restrictions.
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