Scott Powers
The six-county greater-Orlando region saw another drop in the numbers of new COVID-19 cases in the latest state report.
While the numbers of people being tested also remained lower than the previous few days, officials in Orange County saw just 300 new cases reported and the Central Florida region saw just 704 new cases, both the lowest tallies in a week or more.
That’s based on the latest Florida Department of Health COVID-19 report issued Tuesday.
Orange County caseload is up to 10,314 during the four-month coronavirus crisis. It also was the second consecutive day that Orange County’s and the regions’ numbers had fallen significantly compared with last week, during which new record highs were set almost daily.
In the latest set of test results to come back, just 2,020 people were tested, far fewer than the 3,000-5,000 results that came back daily for most of last week. Orange’s positive test rate remained above the 10% level that alarms public health authorities, at 12.3%.
Still, even that rate was lower than what Orange County health officials saw throughout last week.
“Although we don’t want to be complacent, or give you false hope, it could be that the data have started to indicate a little bit of the results of mandating the masks,” said Dr. Raul Pino, Orange County’s health officer with the Florida Department of Health.
Statewide, officials saw a slight uptick in the latest report with 6,093 new cases confirmed. But the total of new cases still was lower than what was being reported daily for much of last week.
Osceola County saw the region’s next highest total of new cases and the highest positive test rate. In Osceola, 107 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed, lifting its total over the 2,000 mark since March, to 2,026. Of 548 test results that came in Monday, 19.8% were positive for the virus.
Seminole and Volusia counties also saw positive test rates above 10%.
In Seminole, 89 new cases brought the county’s total to 2,566. Of 769 test results reported Monday, 10.2% were positive.
In Volusia, 81 new cases brought the county’s total to 2,105. Volusia saw 11.3% of 676 new test results come back positive.
Brevard County saw its numbers continue to decline from a significant spike that occurred late last week. In the latest report, 77 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed, brining the county’s total to 1,793. In the latest test batch, 9% of 778 cases were positive.
In Lake County, 50 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed, bringing its total to 1,302. Lake saw 8.1% of 548 cases come back positive.
