ORLANDO, Fla. _ Florida coronavirus fatalities hit 867 with the second round of updated numbers from the state's Department of Health on Tuesday, as the state continues to be on track to top 1,000 deaths by Friday. Meanwhile, global cases surged past 2.5 million.
The 44 new Florida deaths announced Tuesday were on top of 49 reported Monday. Cases grew to 27,869, up 841 cases since Monday night.
More than 4,200 people have been hospitalized since the state began tracking cases.
The state continues to expand testing, having doled out more than 270,000 to date, which makes it third in the nation, although less than 2% of Florida's overall population.
The U.S. total stands at more than 820,000 cases with over 44,000 deaths. Worldwide, the official count is more than 2.5 million cases with around 176,000 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University & Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center.
The 44 deaths Florida reported Tuesday is still lower than several days the previous week, which saw more than 300 fatalities including the state's deadliest day yet. One week ago, on April 14, there were 72 deaths reported.
South Florida has been hit especially hard with 479 deaths across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, including nearly 100 at long-term care facilities.
The state announced six new deaths Tuesday, including three people between the ages of 75 and 90 in Volusia County. The eight-county region of Central Florida has reported 92 deaths including 27 in Orange, 15 in Polk, 11 in Sumter, 13 in Volusia, seven in Lake, seven in Brevard, six in Osceola and six in Seminole.
Central Florida cases increased to 3,302 with Orange County leading the region with 1,235, followed by Osceola's 417, Volusia's 366, Polk's 356, Seminole's 328, Brevard's 224, Lake's 213 and Sumter's 163.
South Florida still accounts for 59% of the state's case total with 16,544 among Miami-Dade (10,056), Broward (4,168) and Palm Beach (2,320) counties.
Flagler County announced Tuesday that beaches would open Wednesday for exercise only with limited hours and no congregating. The beaches will be open from 7 to 10 a.m. and 6 to 8 p.m.
Tourism industry leaders and hotel and restaurant owners on Tuesday laid out the steps necessary for what they considered a safe restarting of business as part of Gov. Ron DeSantis' task force for reopening the state.
The tone ranged from an eagerness to get back to work to cautious warnings that customers will not just take their word or the government's word that their businesses are safe.
The Tuesday conference call was the task force's second meeting made up this time of just members of the "Industry Working Group." The task force's goal is to make recommendations to the governor by Friday.
"If people can fight over toilet paper in Costco, then I've got to think there's a way that you can run a restaurant safely," DeSantis said to start the meeting. "If people are going to line up to go to the grocery store, then I've got to think (there are) ways that you would be able to do some of the other things that we would do. I think it's less about what's not 'essential' or 'not essential' and more about what's safe."
Later in the day, DeSantis held a news conference where touted the state's response to the virus, noting that the number of cases are well below projections by some models last month, and hospitals weren't overwhelmed, thanks in part to his order banning non-elective procedures last month. DeSantis, however, didn't lay out a timeline for when the state would reopen.
"We did not go the way of Italy; we did not go the way of New York City. In fact, we've done much, much better than those places," DeSantis said.
Meanwhile, the pandemic will cost Orange County $100 million in anticipated tourist taxes this year, possibly a lot more, according to the county financial chief.
The projections outlined Tuesday by Randy Singh, deputy county administrator for financial services, aren't worst-case scenarios.
"It could even get worse depending on what happens over the next seven months," he said.
But Singh, who provided historical comparisons between the pandemic and other crises like 2001's terror attacks and 2004's hurricane season, found reasons to be hopeful. He said the county's overall financial footing was solid.
The outlook for property taxes, at least in the short term, remains good, he said. The taxes people and businesses pay on their homes and land are the county's biggest source of revenue. Those dollars pay for a number of programs, including the jail, health services and other government offices such as the sheriff and elections supervisor.
In national news, the U.S. Senate passed a $483 billion aid package to replenish a small-business payroll fund and provided new money for hospitals and testing. The House is expected to vote on the bill Thursday and President Donald Trump has pledged his support.
