UPDATED: This Map Shows Where and Who Coronavirus Has Hit the Hardest This Week in Florida

As of September 4, 51,961 children have tested positive for COVID-19 in Florida. Cases increased after schools opened in some parts of the state.

On Friday, Florida’s Department of Health (DOH) reported 3,198 confirmed cases of  COVID-19, bringing the state total to 640, 211 total confirmed cases, with non-residents accounting for 7,151 of confirmed cases. The Florida residents’ number of confirmed cases of the illness stands at 633,060, while the state number of resident fatalities rose to 11,750. 

According to the latest update from the Florida Department of Health, the breakdown of cases by county is as follows:

The DOH also provided the number of positive cases by exposure source:

• Traveled: 4,892
• Had contact with confirmed case: 213,072
• Traveled and had contact with confirmed case: 5,196
• Under investigation: 409,900

Find the Florida DOH  complete report HERE. 

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Children’s Numbers Still Rising

The pediatric report for children under 18 years of age for COVID-19 shows 51,961 cases, with 650 hospitalizations and 8 deaths reported across the state. As schools opened for in-person learning in some parts of Florida, Covid-19 cases in children have increased.

Numbers Underreported

The news Tuesday that Quest Diagnostics, a nationwide lab that provides testing at private sites, as well as limited testing through the state, had been withholding results for months, has raised new concerns about whether the state has been under-reporting its data. The Florida Department of Health and the Florida Division of Emergency Management is severing all ties with Quest Diagnostics for failure to report nearly 75,000 results dating back to April. 

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As it’s been widely reported, the numbers of new cases and fatalities across the state may be undercounted, as the DOH may take up to two weeks to report the number of positive results from private labs. Similarly, in the past, the number of fatalities issued by the Medical Examiner’s Office has consistently been 10% higher than reported.

Rebekah Jones, the Florida government data scientist who was fired from the DOH, where she created and managed the state’s coronavirus dashboard, has created her own COVID-19 board, a parallel site that she claims will reveal the numbers that the state has not been reporting.