page_title: COVID-19 pandemic in Florida
hierarchical_section_title: COVID-19 pandemic in Florida
context_page_description: On March 1, 2020, the U.S. state of Florida officially reported its first two COVID-19 cases, in Manatee and Hillsborough counties. However, there is evidence that community spread of COVID-19 began in Florida much earlier, perhaps as early as the first week of January, with as many as 171 people in Florida who had shown symptoms now identified with COVID-19, prior to receiving confirmation from the Centers for Disease Control. By March 11, the CDC saw evidence to conclude that community spread of the virus had occurred within the state. On April 1, Governor Ron DeSantis issued an executive order to restrict activities within the state to those deemed as essential services.
  As of August 30, 2020, the Florida Department of Health reported 2,735 cases and 162 deaths among Florida residents, increasing the cumulative totals since the beginning of the pandemic to 614,753 positive COVID-19 cases and 11,119 deaths. With non-residents included, the totals stand at 621,586 cases and 11,263 deaths. During the months of June and July 2020 the number of COVID-19 cases in Florida increased over eight-fold, from 56,830 on June 1 to 470,386 on July 31.
context_section_description: On March 1, 2020, the U.S. state of Florida officially reported its first two COVID-19 cases, in Manatee and Hillsborough counties. However, there is evidence that community spread of COVID-19 began in Florida much earlier, perhaps as early as the first week of January, with as many as 171 people in Florida who had shown symptoms now identified with COVID-19, prior to receiving confirmation from the Centers for Disease Control. By March 11, the CDC saw evidence to conclude that community spread of the virus had occurred within the state. On April 1, Governor Ron DeSantis issued an executive order to restrict activities within the state to those deemed as essential services.
  As of August 30, 2020, the Florida Department of Health reported 2,735 cases and 162 deaths among Florida residents, increasing the cumulative totals since the beginning of the pandemic to 614,753 positive COVID-19 cases and 11,119 deaths.  With non-residents included, the totals stand at 621,586 cases and 11,263 deaths.  During the months of June and July 2020 the number of COVID-19 cases in Florida increased over eight-fold, from 56,830 on June 1 to 470,386 on July 31. COVID-19 deaths lag by several weeks behind case counts, but by the end of July, Florida set new death records on four consecutive days, culminating in 257 deaths on July 31. Since June 1 the seven-day rolling average of new COVID-19 cases in Florida increased nearly thirteen-fold, from 726 new cases per day on June 1 to 9,725 new cases per day as of July 31. The seven-day rolling average of COVID-19 deaths increased nearly six-fold in that time-span, from an average of 29.7 newly reported deaths per day on June 1 to 170 deaths per day as of July 31.
  As of August 27, 2020, Florida has the third-highest number of confirmed cases in the United States after California and Texas, and the second-highest number of confirmed cases per capita after Louisiana. It has the fifth-highest count of deaths related to the virus, and sixteenth-highest count per capita.
caption: Map of the outbreak in Florida by confirmed new infections per 100,000 people (14 days preceding August 26)
    500+ confirmed new cases
    200–500 confirmed new cases
    100–200 confirmed new cases
    50–100 confirmed new cases
    20–50 confirmed new cases
    10–20 confirmed new cases
    0–10 confirmed new cases
    No confirmed new cases or no data