COVID-19 Is Hitting Florida Millennials Hard As More Young Adults Test Positive

The median age of people in the Sunshine State contracting the novel coronavirus is reportedly getting lower. COVID-19 in Florida continues to set records, with daily highs in the total number of cases. The age group driving a recent spike is between 18-to-35.

Governor Ron DeSantis addressed the lowering of the median age group testing positive for COVID-19 on Saturday: "This week Florida has seen a large number of new cases from those 18 to 35." 

In Broward County, the median age has dipped to 32-years-old. In Duval, home to Jacksonville, it's 29. Seminole County in Central Florida has the lowest median age at 27.

While the records keep breaking, DeSantis has repeatedly downplayed the spike, saying on Saturday that the burden of COVID-19 is "not as significant as it was in March and April" in a press conference to address the increases.

Over the weekend, Florida's total case count soared past 97,000, with deaths from COVID-19 reaching more than 3,100.

Bars, restaurants, and other entertainment venues are allowed to reopen in phase 2 of the state's economic recovery plan.

DeSantis has begun to express some concerns with those establishments not adhering to social distancing measures. 

During his weekend press conference, DeSantis hinted that the state's Department of Business and Professional Regulation, which oversees bars and restaurants within the state, will ramp up inspections of those businesses to ensure that COVID-19 mitigation guidelines are being followed. 

"There are reasons why it was done that way," DeSantis said. "When those very reasonable guidelines are disobeyed, well it ends up defeating some of the purposes of what we are trying to accomplish."

Some areas of the Sunshine State have already taken action against the recent spike.

Miami has indicated it won't go into phase 3 of its own recovery plan, and Miami-Dade county will enforce a crackdown on social distance violators.