WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida hit a grim record in the coronavirus pandemic on Thursday with 10,109 new cases, including the death of an 11-year-old boy in Miami-Dade County.
The boy’s death is the youngest confirmed fatality from COVID-19 in Florida, according to the state.
Previously the youngest victim from COVID-19 was a 16-year-old girl from Lee County.
The new cases on Thursday put the state total at 169,106.
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WPTV spoke with infectious disease Dr. David Dodson of Good Samaritan Hospital, who said he fears that number will only increase.
Dodson describes the increase in positive COVID-19 cases as exponential and adds that 17 percent of all the hospitalizations in Florida right now are people under the age of 45.
Dodson said the best preventative measures people can do is wear masks, avoid large crowds and stay at home when possible.
"I wish people would just even though it's beautiful outside, and the sun is shining, we're in a hot zone. We're in a pandemic. This is a lethal pandemic, and how this goes depends on each of our behavior," said Dodson. "If you really clamp down and make everyone stay home the virus really can't be transmitted, so then the cases go down after a couple of weeks. Then we've learned if you open up society and allow people to interact, then the cases go up. So, what we're on right now is an exponential growth curve."