Florida joins other states with over 100,000 reported COVID-19 cases

In the last week alone, Florida broke records four times for the number of people who tested positive for the coronavirus.

Southwest Florida accounts for nearly 9% of all the positive cases in the state and more than 10% of all the deaths.

Florida joined California, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Illinois and Massachusetts with the milestone number of more than 100,000 reported positive COVID-19 cases.

“It’s a terrible number,” said Alex Hidalgo in Fort Myers.

“I’m just a little worried that we opened up all these restaurants and everything too soon,” said Kaytlin Larson in Fort Myers.

Of the 12 new deaths reported Monday, half of those were in Lee County.

“I feel like they opened up too soon,” said Britton Markle in Fort Myers. “And they opened up before other states too … and it was just about money.”

“Maybe we’ve relaxed on how we’re supposed to be taking care of things,” Hidalgo said.

Southwest Florida reported 118 new cases on the day, bringing the region’s total to 8,842.

“We do know that with more testing there will be more positive cases,” said Kristine Hollingsworth with Florida Department of Health in Collier County. “However, this does not negate the fact that COVID-19 is community spread within Southwest Florida and the state.”

Hollingsworth says, while the hospitals in county can handle the uptick, people still need to wear face masks, social distance and stay home if sick.

People need to heed the precautions and the education measures put forth by the CDC, the governor’s office, and FDOH.

Lee Health says it’s not worried about PPE such as masks or taking care of patients.

We reached out to the governor’s office to see if they still plan on opening up the state at the same rate but haven’t heard back yet.