ICU beds near capacity in Miami-Dade County, where one-third of coronavirus tests came back positive
President Trump arrived in Miami on Friday, one day after one-third of coronavirus tests came back positive in the county. Cases across Florida continue to skyrocket as the U.S. hit another single-day positive case record of 63,200.
Miami-Dade County reported that 33.5% — more than one in three — people who took COVID-19 tests tested positive on Thursday. The 14-day average is 24.87%.
More than 11,400 people tested positive for coronavirus across Florida on Thursday — just shy of the state's single-day record of 11,458 new cases last Saturday. The state case total has now soared past 244,000, with over 4,100 deaths.
"So, what's really clear, is Florida is not testing," Dr. Ashish Jha, the Director of the Harvard Global Health Insititute, said Friday on CBS This Morning. "About one out of five tests that they're doing is turning out positive. That means that there are a lot of cases out there that the testing infrastructure is missing."
The county reported increase in cases of 2,380 on Friday, bringing the county's total to 58,341. The county said that its ICU bed capacity is at 97%.
Miami-Dade has reported a total of 1,118 deaths — the highest in the state.
As of Thursday, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez ordered the closure of all banquet halls and ballrooms. He also made masks mandatory at gyms and fitness centers and limited restaurants to outdoor service between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.
When Mr. Trump arrived in Miami on Friday morning, he was not wearing a face mask. According to the White House, there are no pandemic-related events on his calendar.
"Over the past few days, the president has really not wanted to address these outbreaks across the country," CBS News White House correspondent Paula Reid said Friday. "Instead, really his only mention of the coronavirus is to talk about why we need to get kids back to school."
Despite the surge in cases, Florida is still pushing ahead with some of its reopening plans. On Monday, the state issued an emergency order that requires all "brick-and-mortar" schools to reopen full-time in August.
Walt Disney World is also moving forward with its reopening, welcoming passholders Thursday for "previews," despite Orange County's average daily number of new cases spiking 1,400% since phase one of its reopening plan in May. The park will reopen to the general public on Saturday, with new safety rules in place.
"I think it's like pouring gasoline on a fire," Dr. Terry Adirim, a physician and dean at Florida Atlantic University, told CBS News. "I don't think it's going to help us drive down our case rates. I think it's going to do the opposite."
