Third person dies from coronavirus on Treasure Coast

As Florida edged closer to the 10,000-case mark, a third person, a 31-year-old St. Lucie County woman, has died from COVID-19 on the Treasure Coast, according to the Department of Health report released today.

Two other St. Lucie County people, a 59-year-old man and 95-year-old woman, died from COVID-19 on March 26.  The three deaths are the only ones reported for the Treasure Coast.

With 48 cases, St. Lucie County has had the most COVID-19 cases on the Treasure Coast, but it is also double the population of Indian River County, which has 44 cases, and Martin County, which has 37 cases.

Though St. Lucie County (328,297 population) has had the most cases on the Treasure Coast, it has the fewest cases when size of population is taken into account.  Indian River (159,923 population) has one case per 3,634 people, Martin (161,000) has one case per every 4,351 people and St. Lucie has one case per every 6,839 people. Statewide, Florida (21,477,737 population) has 9,585 cases, or one case for every 2,240 people.

Friday’s report showed St. Lucie County has 18 hospitalizations, followed by Martin with 6 and Indian River with 5.

The state recently began tracking the availability of hospital beds, including those in intensive care units where ventilators, used for most serious COVID-19 patients, are utilized. The census provided today shows Indian River County has 34 percent of its ICU beds available, with 21 filled and 11 available, Martin has 69 percent of its ICU beds available, with 12 used and 27 available, and St. Lucie County has 29 percent of its ICU beds available, with 65 filled and 27 available. Statewide, Florida still has 37 percent of ICU beds available, with 3,861 filled and 2,286 available.

In Florida, a total of 91,722 people have been tested while 1,689 people have been tested on the Treasure Coast, which includes 723 tests in St. Lucie County, 486 tests in Martin County and 480 tests in Indian River County. The Department of Health statistics show that 10.5 percent of people who take the test in Florida have positive results.