Orange County sees 600 new COVID-19 cases

Orange County authorities reported 601 new cases of the coronavirus Friday, one of the largest single-day snapshots of the outbreak since the big summer surge in July.

The latest report from the Florida Department of Health, showing data recorded Thursday, shows trends suggesting rising caseloads and hospital admissions in Orange County. The report comes as Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings prepares to outline a proposed executive order seeking to put enforcement teeth back into his masking and social distancing orders, regardless of Gov. Ron DeSantis‘s order banning enforcement.

Demings order, which he will describe at a late Friday press conference, would set fines that could start at $1,000 a day for businesses that do not enforce mask-wearing and social distancing.

With the exceptions of apparent fluke reports such as when a daily total of 745 new cases was reported on Nov. 15 — a total far higher than what was seen other days that week — Orange County has not seen 600 new COVID-19 cases in a single day since July, when Florida, Central Florida, and Orange County were suffering the worst of the pandemic’s summer surge.

The 601 total of new coronavirus cases tallied Thursday does not appear to be a fluke. Orange County recorded 573 cases the day before, and has topped 500 newly-recorded COVID-19 cases in four of the past five daily state reports.

Overall, the six-county Central Florida area saw 1,304 new cases Thursday, and 33 more people admitted to hospitals due to COVID-19, according to Friday’s report. In addition to Orange County’s 601 new cases, Osceola County saw 189 new cases, Brevard County 168, Volusia County 159, Seminole County 104, and Lake County 83.

The previous day, the greater Orlando area saw 1,444 cases; the day before that, 1,112. Friday’s report marked the sixth straight day Central Florida’s daily tallies of new, confirmed cases of people with the coronavirus topped 1,000 across the six counties.

The 33 new hospital admissions tally was down a bit from the 40-something hospitalizations seen the on the previous couple of days. But the report marked the fourth straight day at least 30 people were newly admitted to hospitals with COVID-19.

There were four deaths newly attributed to the coronavirus in Friday’s report for Central Florida.