A new, interactive COVID-19 risk level map, developed by researchers at the Harvard Global Health Institute, says many Florida counties should probably institute stay-at-home orders.
The map, released today, allows users to view the risk level of every state and county in the United States. The coronavirus risk levels are indicated by a color rating―green, yellow, orange or red―based on the number of new daily cases per 100,000 people.
A county with fewer than one daily new case per 100,000 is green; one to 9 is yellow; 10-24 is orange, and 25 or above is red. If a county is at the red level, it means that it is at “a tipping point” and that “stay-at-home orders are necessary,” according to the dashboard.
Florida is one of just three states, including Arizona and Mississippi, “in the red” with a total average of 29.1 daily new cases per 100,000 people when all counties are averaged.
As imagined, many Florida counties are in the red as well including Hillsborough County, with 42.1 daily new cases per 100,000; Pinellas County has an average of 34.5 and Pasco County is at 25.
The risk map accompanies COVID-19 suppression guidance that looks to provide “clear, accessible guidance to policymakers and the public on how to target and suppress COVID-19 more effectively across the nation,” according to the website.
“The public needs clear and consistent information about COVID risk levels in different jurisdictions for personal decision-making, and policy-makers need clear and consistent visibility that permits differentiating policy across jurisdictions”, said Danielle Allen, director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University in a statement. “We also collectively need to keep focused on what should be our main target: a path to near zero case incidence.”
This new assessment map arrives one day after White House Health Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said, “I would not be surprised if we go up to 100,000 a day if this does not turn around, and so I am very concerned,” in a hearing held by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Florida’s own state dashboard received criticism from Rebekah Jones, the fired Department of Health data expert who operated its COVID-19 dashboard. She said she was fired following her denial to manipulate data showing which counties met the state’s reopening criteria.
On June 23 she tweeted, “I've independently verified they've [Florida Department of Health] deleted at least 1200 cases in the last week.”
Jones, after her firing, created her own coronavirus dashboard, Florida COVID Action.
At Friday’s press conference, Gov. Ron DeSantis said that he will not mandate a statewide face mask order despite Florida’s rising cases. Local politicians have stepped in with emergency ordinances requiring face coverings in indoor businesses including Hillsborough County and Pinellas County.
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