Florida plans stepped-up public service campaign as COVID-19 cases climb

Pinellas County reported an increase of 266 cases of COVID-19 on Friday.

It was the second day in a row that new cases have topped 200. Over the past seven days, there’s been 173 new cases per day on average in Pinellas.

Since the state started reporting cases by county in early March, there’s been a total of 3,153 positive COVID-19 cases in Pinellas and 113 deaths, according to the Florida Department of Health.

Increased testing is likely to produce more cases, but there’s also been an increase in the positivity rate, or the number of people who have positive test results. On June 18, 11.5 percent of total test results in Pinellas were positive, the health department said. That compares to rates that were as low as 1.6 percent a couple of weeks ago.

The median age of those testing positive has been dropping statewide, Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a news conference in Miami Friday.

“We’ve started to see some erosion in social distancing from some of the younger population. The Department of Health is going to be launching some public service announcements, reminding folks of some of the things that you can do,” DeSantis said. “If you are a normal healthy younger individual, doing things like frequent hand washing and sanitation, staying home when sick, social distancing and wearing a mask when you can’t social distance, those things are very important and can help reduce the amount of transmission we’re seeing, particularly in those age cohorts.”

While the number in cases among people under the age of 45 is increasing, there are fewer clinical consequences than with older people, according to DeSantis said. He said that seniors over 65 are still the most likely to die as a result of contracting the disease.

St. Petersburg has a new requirement that all employees of businesses in the city must wear masks while in areas of the business open to the public, beginning at 5 p.m. Friday. Pinellas County is considering mask requirements as well.

The state does not have a similar requirement. DeSantis said the state would not pre-empt local mask requirements.

“We put out an advisory at the beginning of May per CDC guidance, recommending that you wear a mask when you can’t social distance or when you are in a face-to-face type business.. When [local governments] do that – and they have every right to do that – they are then responsible for the enforcement of that,” he said. “Our view is to attach criminal penalties would not necessarily be the right things to do.”

He also said there is “plenty of hospital capacity,” in Florida.

Pinellas County officials said Thursday there’s been an increase in visits to emergency rooms from people with COVID symptoms and a slight decline in intensive care unit availability – a trend that Dr. Ulyee Choe, director of the Florida Department of Health-Pinellas County, called “alarming.”