Scott Powers
The six Central Florida counties added another 1,734 cases of COVID-19 to its load Friday, continuing an outbreak looking more like the steady mid-summer surge the region suffered through July.
Friday’s case report from the Florida Department of Health marked the ninth time in ten days that the six counties comprising greater Orlando combined for more than 1,500 new cases, and the third straight day topping 1,600.
Statewide Friday, officials reported 13,000 new COVID-19 cases, the second day in a row the toll reached that mark. The statewide numbers also are beginning to mimic the upward slope in the pandemic’s worst days last summer.
Orange County was cited with 691 new cases of the coronavirus Friday, followed by 240 for Osceola County, 235 for Volusia County, 218 for Brevard County, 191 for Lake County, and 159 for Seminole County. Most of those counts were lower than what was seen on Thursday when the region saw 1,999 new cases. Yet none of the counties appears heading back toward the two-digit totals seen regularly prior to Thanksgiving.
The region once again saw a huge number of test results returned in the latest state report, 135,699 for the batch closing Thursday. Usually a large batch of test results means a higher number of cases found, but also a lower rate of positive-test results.
Across the region, 8.6% of the test results returned Thursday were positive for COVID-19. Lake County topped 10%, for the sixth straight day, with a rate of 10.6%. The other counties were bunched below: Osceola County at 9.5%, Seminole and Volusia counties both at 8.8%, Orange County at 8.2%, and Brevard County at 7.4%.
As in Thursday’s report, Friday’s showed another 50 people infected with the virus admitted to hospitals in Central Florida. That included 16 new patients in Lake, 15 in Orange, and 10 in Volusia.
The state attributed the deaths of 18 more Central Florida residents to COVID-19. That included seven people who died in Lake, six in Orange, and four in Brevard.
