Florida adds 3,650 new cases. Plus: The CDC calls dining out one of the “riskiest activities” during the pandemic.
On Friday, the Florida’s Department of Health (DOH) reported 3,650 cases of COVID-19, bringing the state total to 658,381, with residents accounting for 650,922 cases. Non-residents account for 7,459 confirmed cases across the state. The death toll is 12,502. Verified as of September 11, pediatric cases number 53,717.
According to the latest update from the Florida Department of Health, the breakdown of cases by county is as follows:
CDC Calls Dining Out One of the “Riskiest Activities” During Pandemic
According to a report issued on Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), dining out is one of the riskiest activities a person can engage in during the COVID-19 pandemic.“Eating and drinking on-site at locations that offer such options might be important risk factors associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection,” the report reads.
RELATED: Florida Orders Some Counties to Hide Data as COVID-19 Cases Spike in School-Age Children
The reason for this is that masks are not worn while people are drinking and eating.
“Efforts to reduce possible exposures where mask use and social distancing are difficult to maintain, such as when eating and drinking, should be considered to protect customers, employees, and communities,” the report added.
After CDC officials interviewed about 314 people with symptoms of the illness who got tested for COVID-19, results showed that approximately half were positive, and those who tested positive were about twice as likely to say they had dined at a restaurant, than those who tested negative. People who tested positive, but could not pinpoint a specific occasion when they were exposed to the coronavirus, were found more likely to have recently been to a coffee shop or bar.
Todd Rice, a co-author of the study and an associate professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told NBC News that when he’s sitting at a table and the food hasn’t arrived, he still wears a mask. Rice, who lives in Nashville, where restaurants have reopened at 50 percent capacity, won’t sit at a table that’s next to somebody else. He added that if people are going to eat out, “they need to be thoughtful about how they’re going to do it.”
FYI
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. 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.
READ MORE: New Book: Trump Knew How Dangerous Virus Was in February But Admitted to Downplaying It Anyway
Positive Cases by Exposure Source
Traveled: 5,082
Contact with confirmed case: 225,317
Travel and contact with confirmed case: 54,008
Under investigation: 415,123
Positive Cases by Testing Source
Positive by Department of Health/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: 23,289
Positive by private labs: 627,633
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