Florida Has More COVID-19 Cases Than All Of Canada But Our Athletes Are Among Them
Canada's response to the worldwide pandemic hasn't been perfect, but the country appears to be on the right track. The same, unfortunately, can't be said for one US state. Canada's confirmed COVID-19 cases are now lower than Florida's.
As of June 24, Health Canada is reporting that the entire country has had 102,242 confirmed cases, with the majority of them being in Ontario and Quebec.
Meanwhile, the state of Florida is reporting 114,018 confirmed cases as of June 25.
The state saw its highest daily count ever the previous day, with 5,511 new cases reported, according to data compiled by Worldometers.
By contrast, Canada last saw its highest daily case count on May 3, when 2,760 new cases were reported nationwide.
The Sunshine State has a slightly smaller population than Canada (just over 21.4 million, according to the US Census Bureau, compared to just under 38 million according to Statistics Canada).
The rising cases have already caused some issues for one Canadian sports team.
The Toronto Blue Jays had to shut down their spring training facility in Dunedin, Florida due to a player exhibiting symptoms of the virus.
TSN's Scott Mitchell reported on June 24 that several players and staff members in the Jays organization have now tested positive for COVID-19.
The rising case numbers in the state have also caused hesitation among NBA players and executives, who were preparing to have games held at Disney World in Orlando, according to ESPN.
The Toronto Raptors would be among the teams heading to Florida to play, but as one trainer pointed out to ESPN, there are thousands of employees working at Disney that would be in and out of the NBA's supposed bubble.
As the daily new cases in Canada have continued to decline, more provinces are moving further ahead in their reopening plans.
Most recently, British Columbia moved into its third phase, allowing for non-essential travel throughout the province.