Florida coronavirus death toll: Latest Covid-19 figures

State’s Trump-supporting governor refused to introduce mask mandate

Florida became the third state in the country to hit 1 million Covid cases when it passed the staggering mark in early December.

In doing so the country’s third biggest state, with a population of 21.9 million, joined Texas and California as the worst affected states in the US.

And Florida had by 27 December seen an estimated 1.26 million cases and suffered 21,134 deaths during the pandemic.

Health officials in the state reported its first cases, both in the Tampa Bay area, on 1 March.

One was a 29-year-old woman who had recently returned from a trip to Italy, and the other, a 63-year-old man who had been in contact with someone who had the virus.

On 5 March the state saw its first Covid fatalities when two people, both in their 70s, died.

The impact of the virus on the state’s famed tourism industry was immediately evident as Universal Orlando Resort and Disney World both closed their parks on 15 March.

However, unlike California, it was not until April that governor Ron DeSantis, a big supporter of Donald Trump, issued a statewide stay-at-home order to try and flatten the pandemic’s curve.

Students across the state then finished the academic year online, which Mr DeSantis has called “probably the biggest public health blunder in modern American history.”

Read more: Latest California Covid-19 figures

In the following months the governor allowed the state to continue with a phased reopening plan, which was followed by a spike in cases.

The first phase came on 4 May, and the second on 5 June.

In May data scientist Rebekah Jones was fired from the Florida Department of Health and claimed it was because she had refused to change Covid data to support the re-opening of the state.

Despite her firing Ms Jones continued to publish Covid statistics and accused officials of trying to cover up the extent of the pandemic in the state.

Disney World’s Florida theme parks eventually re-opened on 11 July, following openings for Universal Orlando and SeaWorld.

By September, and with the general election looming, Mr DeSantis pushed forward with the third reopening phase in the swing state, which effectively lifted almost all restrictions.

Part of that re-opening order actually barred local governments from adopting and enforcing Covid restrictions they deemed appropriate.

It also saw the full re-opening of bars and restaurants at 100 per cent capacity.

Throughout the pandemic Mr DeSantis refused to bring in a statewide mask mandate and instead insisted that he trusted Floridians to make “good decisions.”

“I think it’s something – we provide education, we did an advisory at the beginning of May and we’ve advised that that’s something that could make an impact,” he said in June.

“But at the same time, to do police and put criminal penalties on that, is something that would probably backfire.”

And despite cases growing in the state he insisted that Florida was still aiming to host the NFL’s Super Bowl in February 2021 in Tampa Bay.

“We’re going to be able to host the Super Bowl in February. We expect to do a full Super Bowl. We’re going to show that we’re going to be able to do that,” he said.

In early December state police officers raided the home of Ms Jones and seized her computer, which she says is retaliation for her whistleblowing and is now the subject of a lawsuit.

On 26 December, despite the rising number of cases and deaths in Florida, Donald Trump tweeted in support of Mr DeSantis’s measures saying the state was “doing well”.

He wrote: “The lockdowns in Democrat run states are absolutely ruining the lives of so many people - Far more than the damage that would be caused by the China Virus. Cases in California have risen despite the lockdown, yet Florida & others are open & doing well. Common sense please!”