Virus outbreak exploding in Orange, Seminole counties

Orlando, Florida, USA downtown city skyline on Eola Lake.

The resurgence of the coronavirus epidemic exploded Thursday in Orange and Seminole Counties, which both saw spikes reported Friday far worse than any day either county had ever seen before.

The previous worst day was reported Thursday.

Orange County officials logged 374 new cases of COVID-19 in one 24-hour period leading into Friday morning, according to the latest report issued Friday by the Florida Department of Health. That’s up 18% from the previous 24-hour record of 316, set the day before.

Seminole County officials logged 125 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, up 25% from the record 100 seen in Thursday’s report.

New COVID-19 caseload spikes also were reported in Volusia, Brevard and Lake counties, while only Osceola County, within the six-county Central Florida region, saw less severe numbers.

Positivity rates also surged, topping 10% for the third consecutive day in Orange and Seminole, for the number of people tested who tested positive for the virus. In Orange County, test results returned Thursday found 15% of the 1,900 people tested for the coronavirus were found to have the virus. That’s up from 12% and 10% the previous two days. In Seminole County, 19% of the 500 people who were tested were found to have the virus. That’s up from 11% each of the previous two days.

Orange County now has recorded 4,274 cases of COVID-19 since the outbreak began in mid-March. Throughout much of May and early June, Orange was seeing about 40-60 new cases a day. In the past seven days, Orange is averaging 214 new cases per day.

With Friday’s report, Seminole County topped 1,000 total cases in the coronavirus crisis. It now has seen 1,101 people confirmed with the virus, joining Orange and Volusia (1,117) with quadruple-digit caseloads in Central Florida. Osceola County could breach that threshold in Saturday’s report, as it now stands a 960 cases during the crisis. Brevard has seen 748 cases, Lake, 646.

On Friday, Gov. Ron DeSantis preferred to focus on the ages of those being infected. In Orange County in particular, many of the new cases are young people, driving down the most recent average age to 29. Seminole County also is seeing a big outbreak in the ZIP code abutting the University of Central Florida.

” I think what you’re seeing in Central Florida and Tampa Bay, these are more community cases with younger people and it’s passing around the community at a rate that is higher today than it was say maybe three weeks ago,” the Governor said. “So that’s something that we’ve got to dig in for.”

The spike comes as Orange County prepares for Mayor Jerry Demings‘ executive order, issued Thursday, that all people in the county must wear masks at all times while in public, with a few obvious exceptions, such as when they are eating or jogging alone. Demings order is to go into effect at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.

Already, his order is drawing political opposition. Late Thursday night, Orange County Republican Party Chair Charles Hart declared, on Facebook that, he would fight the order.

“Mayor Demings you cost Orange County millions of dollars in income and thousands of jobs by exerting your #LiberalPrivilege! Now, you are planning to use your #LiberalPrivilege again to rob Orange County of our dignity and freedom!” Hart wrote in his post. “Not if I have anything to say about it!”

Similarly, Republican Rep. Anthony Sabatini vowed on Twitter and Facebook that he would pursue a lawsuit against the order. Sabatini’s Lake County district abuts but does not include any of Orange County. But if he or any of his constituents crosses the county line, they would be subject to Demings’ order Saturday.

Lake County, meanwhile saw 63 new cases of COVID-19 in the latest report, slightly below the county’s record day seen on June 12 when it recorded 69 new cases. In the past seven days, Lake County has suffered 263 new cases. In the previous week, Lake recorded just 66 new cases. For Thursday’s tests results, Lake County’s positive-test rate was 4% of the 500 people tested.

Brevard recorded 60 new cases in the latest 24 hours. Its positive test rate for Thursday’s results was 8%

Volusia also recorded 60 new cases in the latest report. Its positive test rate for Thursday’s results was 14%

Osceola recorded 34 new cases in the latest report. Its positive test rate was 11%