TAMPA, Fla. _ Florida's coronavirus caseload surged past 5,000 Monday after a weekend of death announcements in Pinellas County.
The state says 652 residents have been hospitalized because of COVID-19, the disease caused by complications from the virus, which can have severe respiratory effects.
Across the state, 63 people have died.
Tampa Bay cases have quickly shot up, though testing remains far too limited to fully assess the scope of the disease's spread. Still, in five days, Hillsborough County has gone from 100 cases to blowing past 250.
Confirmed cases in other local counties total 126 in Pinellas, 38 in Pasco, 21 in Hernando and 39 in Manatee.
Tampa alone accounts for 176 cases. St. Petersburg has 27.
For weeks, Pinellas has had more hospitalizations than other nearby counties, with an older median age of people affected, but Hillsborough has caught up, with 40 to Pinellas' 41.
Orlando has surpassed Hillsborough in cases, with nearly 300, to become the hardest-hit county outside of the South Florida hotspot.
In Miami-Dade County, more than 1,600 cases have been confirmed, and in Broward, 1,152. Palm Beach County has 423.
