ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida reported an additional 5,464 COVID-19 cases on Friday.
The increase brings the total number of cases in the state since the pandemic began to 2,196,502.
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Of the latest cases, 1,256 cases were reported in Central Florida.
The state also reported an additional 65 virus-related deaths. Of those deaths, 10 were reported in Central Florida, including three in Flagler County.
READ: COVID-19 variant cases continuing to rise in Orange County
The increases come as a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee is meeting Friday to discuss whether to revise recommendations around who should receive the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine.
Health officials said Friday that they have confirmed 15 cases of rare, unusual blood clots in people who received any of the nearly 8 million doses administered nationwide of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is looking to its advisers to help them evaluate the numbers and determine how big the vaccine’s risk really is — and how to balance that risk against the need to vaccinate millions against a virus that’s still infecting tens of thousands of Americans every day. Click here for live updates from the meeting.
READ: Coronavirus: CDC advisory panel meeting Friday to discuss Johnson & Johnson vaccine
FEMA officials said the the state is prepared to resume use of the Johnson and Johnson vaccines at the federally-supported vaccination sites as early as Saturday.
For now, FEMA officials said the J&J vaccines remain in storage at their nearest county health departments and can be transported to the vaccination sites quickly. They said if the vote to resume the use of the vaccine is not decided until later in the day, the state will most likely resume the use of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine at the federally-supported vaccination sites on Sunday or Monday to give site staff additional time to pull together logistics.
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Officials said tf the panel decides to resume the use of the J&J vaccine, but provides additional guidance to accompany it (i.e., only can be used for certain demographics, needs to be administered with a warning, etc.), the state will review the guidance over the weekend and aim to implement Johnson and Johnson at the federally-supported vaccination sites early next week.
Officials said the state is preparing to resume 3,000 doses of the J&J vaccine per day at all four FEMA-run sites.
Click here to read more about the recent increase in variant cases in Orange County.
See a county-by-county breakdown of total (and new) coronavirus cases below, and click here for an interactive map of cases statewide:
ORANGE: CASES: 133,574 (+363); DEATHS: 1,232 (+1)
OSCEOLA: CASES: 43,053 (+126); DEATHS: 496 (0)
SEMINOLE: CASES: 32,964 (+106); DEATHS: 480 (-2)
POLK: CASES: 66,001 (+210); DEATHS: 1,294 (+2)
VOLUSIA: CASES: 41,950 (+136); DEATHS: 777 (+2)
BREVARD: CASES: 40,013 (+130); DEATHS: 849 (+2)
FLAGLER: CASES: 7,113 (+10); DEATHS: 109 (+3)
LAKE: CASES: 28,721 (+76); DEATHS: 622 (0)
MARION: CASES: 30,322 (+88); DEATHS: 948 (0)
SUMTER: CASES: 9,174 (+11); DEATHS: 273 (0)
Cox Media Group
