FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A university study shows Floridians cut their social interactions dramatically when the coronavirus pandemic hit, but returned to near normal in May just before cases again began spiking.
The study came as Florida recorded more than 100 new coronavirus deaths for the seventh time in two weeks, giving it the nation’s highest daily average for fatalities for the past week.
The University of West Florida study using cellphone locations showed Floridians cut their social interactions by two-thirds between early March when the state’s first coronavirus cases were reported and March 21, the day after the state ordered a ban on indoor dining at restaurants but before a broader statewide economic lockdown was enacted.
The study’s preliminary results show they remained a fraction of normal into May, but then rose and were near normal in June.
It was during June that Florida’s positivity rate for coronavirus tests skyrocketed from about 3% to 16%. And while the daily number of tests performed doubled in June, the average number of Floridians each day reported as newly infected increased nearly tenfold.
The state health department reported 139 more deaths Wednesday, bringing Florida’s weekly average to 118 a day.
Statewide, 379,619 people have been infected and 5,345 people have died since the beginning of the pandemic.
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