Scott Powers
After more than a week of gradually declining COVID-19 indicators across Central Florida, the region saw marked increases Tuesday in the numbers of new cases and positive-test rates reported by the state.
On Tuesday the Department of Health reported 1,300 newly-recorded cases of COVID-19 across greater Orlando, the region spanning Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Brevard, Volusia and Lake counties. That’s up from just over 1,000 people reported with newly-confirmed cases of the coronavirus each of the previous two days and just 758 the day before. (The state did not issue a report for Thanksgiving so daily numbers are not available for that day.)
Orange County reported more than 500 new cases for the second consecutive day with 537 additional people infected with COVID-19 tallied in Tuesday’s report, which covers data compiled through Monday.
The biggest increases in Central Florida were seen Osceola County, which saw 244 new cases reported Tuesday, compared with 106 the day before; and in Brevard County, where 188 cases were tallied in Tuesday’s report, up from 62 the day before.
LakeCounty also experienced a slight increase, to 72 cases, up from 48. Seminole County tallied 132 new cases in Tuesday’s report, down from 141 the day before. Volusia County had 127 cases, down from 148.
Central Florida counties also saw rises in the positive-test rates for people seeking coronavirus tests, revealed by the batch of results that were returned Monday and reported in Tuesday’s state report. In Brevard, the positive-results rate soared to 9.5%, the highest that county has seen in a week. In Seminole, the positive-result rate climbed to 7.9%, and in Osceola to 7.6%. Lake’s rate also climbed, to 6.5%. The rates dipped slightly in Orange, to 6.4%, and in Volusia, to 5.5%.
The overall positive test rate for the state of Florida in Tuesday’s report was 8.7%. So Central Florida’s current outbreak continues to be less prevalent than is being seen in much of the rest of the state.
Tuesday’s report recorded 52 additional COVID-19 patients admitted to hospitals in Central Florida, and three new deaths attributed to the disease, including two people in Osceola and one in Orange.
