ORLANDO, Fla. — “We are now in crisis mode,” Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said on Monday.
He said during the county’s COVID-19 briefing that Orange County is recording nearly 1,000 new cases daily. Those numbers are comparable to what the county saw at the highest peak last year.
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Demings said the county’s positivity rate has more than tripled in less than a month.
He said as of Saturday, Orange County’s 14-day rolling positivity rate was roughly 14%. On June 28, it was 4.28%.
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During the briefing, Dr. Victor Herrera with AdventHealth said in-patient numbers of COVID-19 cases are reaching an all-time high. He said capacity is being stretched to its limits, forcing AdventHealth to move its status to level red. Click here for details on what that means.
Mayor Demings said as of Saturday, Orange County’s 14-day rolling positivity rate was roughly 14%. To put that into context for you, Mayor Demings says on June 28, it was 4.28%. So, it’s more than tripled in less than a month. pic.twitter.com/AHR52MA6jv
— Christy Turner (@CTurnerWFTV) July 26, 2021
Officials said right now the majority of the COVID-19 cases are in those ages 15 to 44.
Health officials are pushing again for people to get vaccinated saying without vaccinations we may not be able to bring the numbers down for a while.
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One local doctor told Eyewitness News the COVID-19 case numbers are going in the wrong direction.
“We were seeing a light at the end of a dark and very long tunnel; that light at the end of the tunnel is getting dimmer,” said infectious disease specialist, Dr. Aftab Khan.
WFTV dug into the numbers.
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From July 9 to July 15, Orange, Brevard, Volusia, Seminole, Osceola, Lake and Marion Counties ranged from 3,648 cases to 652.
One week later -- the week of July 16 to July 22 -- the same counties ranged from 5,356 to 1,506 cases of COVID-19.
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“Our numbers were below 3.8% and now currently we’re over 12% in the state of Florida,” said Dr. Khan.
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