‘PEOPLE ARE DYING!’
Florida becomes ‘new Wuhan’ as governor Ron DeSantis blasted for state suffering record 15,000 daily coronavirus cases
FLORIDA has become the "New Wuhan" as governor Ron DeSantis was blasted for the state suffering record of 15,000 daily coronavirus cases.
Over 12,600 new cases of coronavirus were reported on Monday - down from Sunday's record peak but it was the second-highest daily increase in the state.
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In the past 24 hours, coronavirus cases had increased by 3,269 to 67,713 in Miami-Dade.
The county has had 1,143 reported coronavirus deaths since the outbreak began - the highest total in the state, reported.
"Miami is the epicenter of the pandemic," said Lilian Abbo, an infectious-diseases specialist from the University of Miami Health System.
"What we are seeing in Wuhan six months ago, now we're there," she added.
Despite surging case numbers Governor DeSantis stressed that the pandemic was "under control" in front of a Miami press conference.
"People are dying and you are doing nothing," a young protester heckled while De Santis was making his opening comments.
"You are falsifying information, you're misleading the public," he continued.
"More than 4,000 people have died, you are blaming the protestors and you are doing nothing! Shame on you!"
The Republican governor has come under huge fire for the surge in coronavirus cases after he reopened the state.
Florida entered the second phase of its reopening plan on June 5 where bars and restaurants could operate at
Walt Disney World reopened two of its theme parks on Saturday and are due to reopen two more on Wednesday.
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CASES SURGE
Florida recorded more than 15,000 new cases on Sunday - smashing the national record for the single day increase in positive coronavirus cases since the beginning of the pandemic.
This week, Florida reported an average of 73 fatalities a day, a total of 514.
Three weeks ago, the state was averaging 30 deaths per day.
Although the testing has doubled over the last month, from around 25,000 tests a day to almost 50,000, the percentage of those testing positive has gone up.
A month ago, fewer than 5% of tests came up positive on a daily average, according to AP. Over the past week, the daily average exceeded 19%.
About 10.7% of Saturday’s 143,000 tests came up positive.
"I still think we need to increase our testing a little bit more,” said University of Florida epidemiologist Dr. Cindy Prins.
"I really do think we could control this, and it’s the human element that is so critical. It should be an effort of our country. We should be pulling together when we’re in a crisis, and we’re definitely not doing it."
"I know people want to live their lives. There have been a lot of other times, people have made those sacrifices in order to benefit our society. It’s almost like a war effort. That’s what we need right now."
that the US would see "tremendous deaths" if coronavirus lockdowns are not imposed.
Dr Bob Lahita made the ominous prediction after more than 69,000 new Covid-19 cases were reported.
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The surge in coronavirus cases has been driven by states that have fast-tracked the reopening of their economies, such as California, Texas and Florida.
"I'm hoping that the governors use some common sense and close up again," Dr Lahita said.
"It comes close to irresponsible, reopening, until we have absolute proof that the disease is under control," he told
More than 3.3 million Americans have tested positive nationwide but it's feared the true numbers could be higher as 40 per cent of those who contract the virus show no symptoms, according to the
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