Orange County reports lowest COVID-19 case increase since July began

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Orange County reported 325 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, the lowest increase in case numbers the county has seen since July began.

The county’s positivity rate was the lowest it has been in weeks.

“This is the lowest positivity rate that we have had in some time. At least in the last 14 days. But maybe even 21 days. That is a good indication,” Orange County Health Officer Dr. Raul Pino said.

READ: Florida reports 92 deaths linked to COVID-19, more than 10K new coronavirus cases since yesterday

At the AdventHealth hospital branches in Orange, Osceola, and Seminole counties about 520 patients have COVID-19.

“Even though this is still at a very, very high level, it appears to be at least for the last few days … the rate of change has not nearly been as great,” said Dr. Vincent Hsu with AdventHealth. “It’s somewhat leveled off a little bit.”

Hsu said it's a good sign as they've been working to prevent a surge on the system.

“We are holding our own in terms of supplies,” he said. “We have adequate ventilators; we have adequate room capacity.”

AdventHealth recently had to bring in additional staff and is still working to make sure it'll be enough to take care of all the patients.

“But overall, the situation compared to last week is very stable,” he said.

Video: Orange County health officials to offer free back-to-school immunizations The free flu shots run through August 8th.

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