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As of yesterday more than 414,000 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in Florida, according to a tracker maintained by researchers at Johns Hopkins University. Florida’s number passes the 411,000 cases recorded so far in New York. California, the nation’s most populous state, has had the most coronavirus cases since last week; as of Saturday, it had more than 446,000 cases. While COVID-19 cases surged in the northeast early this spring, Florida appeared to have missed the worst impact of the pandemic. However, the state’s fortunes appeared to shift after the state rapidly ended its lockdown in May. (Law, 7/26)

The number of infections and deaths tied to the novel coronavirus in Florida showed little sign of slowing Sunday as the state surpassed New York for the second-highest number of confirmed cases in the United States. Only California, with a population nearly twice as high as Florida’s, has more cases. Florida’s Department of Health reported 9,344 infections and 78 fatalities. The overall caseload is 423,855 since March 1, and the number of deaths tied to the virus is 5,972. (Dawson, 7/26)

As Florida became a global epicenter of the coronavirus, Gov. Ron DeSantis held one meeting this month with his top public health official, Scott Rivkees, according to the governor's schedule. His health department has sidelined scientists, halting briefings last month with disease specialists and telling the experts there was not sufficient personnel from the state to continue participating. (Wootson Jr., Stanley-Becker, Rozsa and Dawsey, 7/25)

Florida — long a national running joke since the 2000 presidential election debacle — took hit after hit on Sunday in the national media for the handling of the coronavirus that made it the new epicenter of the pandemic.Most of the news reports focused on how Florida on Saturday usurped New York in the number of coronavirus cases and now only trails California, a far more more populous state with nearly twice the population. (Pacenti, 7/26)

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday blamed The Post for Florida and Arizona’s surging coronavirus cases. “The Wall Street Journal, New York Post — they continue to beat a horse that is dead: ‘We should reopen the economy faster in New York,’ ‘The infection rate is low; re-open faster,'” Cuomo ranted to reporters during an early-morning conference call. “The infection rate is low because we have done an intelligent, phased reopening. What they are advocating has been demonstrated to be wrong and to be a failure,” the governor continued. (Meyer, 7/26)