Pinellas County tops 200 new COVID-19 cases in one day

There have been 2,887 total confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Pinellas County as of Thursday morning, an increase of 203 cases from Wednesday, according to the Florida Department of Health.

It was the first time since the state health department began providing daily county updates in early March that Pinellas has had more than 200 new cases reported in a single day.

There also were two new deaths reported on Thursday in Pinellas, and a total of 112 county residents have died from COVID-19 since the outbreak began.

The rate of people who have gotten COVID-19 tests and have positive results from those tests also has been increasing, health department statistics show.

Pinellas County COVID-19 testing (Source: Florida Department of Health)

In an effort to slow the spread of the disease, St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman has ordered that all businesses in St. Pete are required to have their employees wear masks or face coverings when they work in areas of the business that are open to the public, beginning Friday, June 19 at 5 p.m.

The Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners next week is expected to consider requiring face coverings be worn inside some businesses and limiting how many people can be inside restaurants and bars.

In Pinellas County, COVID-19 cases among the residents and staff of long-term care facilities accounted for 25 percent of total cases as of Thursday. Eighty-four of the Pinellas County deaths were among staff and residents of long-term care facilities.

There have been 85,926 total cases in Florida since tracking began and 3,061 total deaths, the health department said.