July 1 COVID-19 Update for Palm Beach County

As a new month begins, COVID-19 positive cases and deaths continue to increase in Florida and Palm Beach County.

Palm Beach County is set to close all beaches, private and public, Friday through Sunday. Nearby shops and restaurants will remain open this Fourth of July holiday weekend, but masks and social distancing guidelines continue their enforcement. This is a preventative measure to avoid large crowds populating beaches over the weekend.

Spikes in COVID-19 cases still occur as Palm Beach County has 14,447 positive cases with the death toll reaching 512. County officials are concerned by younger crowds venturing out and not abiding social distancing policies.

Across Florida, the case count hits 146,341 with 3,447 deaths, according to the Florida Department of Health.

“Older adults and people of any age who have serious underlying medical conditions may be at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19,” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website notes. “While the risk for severe illness is lower for others, everyone faces some risk of illness. Some people have no symptoms, others have mild symptoms, and some get severely ill.”

Research from The World Health Organization notes that frequently the word asymptomatic is used interchangeably with presymptomatic, those who are sick but have not begun showing symptoms yet. Those in the presymptomatic stage of COVID-19 are infectious, but a lack of research results in unclear evidence of asymptomatic transmission.

A new concern with the growing spike in positive cases is the possibility of hospitals filling up. In Palm Beach County, there are 1,810 patients hospitalized due to COVID-19.