Pino on ‘rapid riser’ designation: ‘We’re still in good shape’

Raul Pino, the head of the Florida Department of Health in Orange County, said Saturday concerns over a new White House report designating the county as a COVID-19 “rapid riser” are warranted, but that its continued efforts to combat new infections are promising.

“We’re still in good shape, but the news is still concerning,” Pino said.

The report, which partly labels counties as “rapid risers” if it sees more than 100 new cases in seven days, has Orange County as the only one in Florida with that designation. Scores on counties in 47 states have also been labeled “rapid risers” by the report.

Pino said less than 200 new cases were seen in Orange every day for the last week, including 183 on Friday. But recent death counts are still much lower than the summer surge caused by the delta variant, which killed 293 residents in August, making it the deadliest month throughout the nearly 20-month pandemic.

And while not in the same category, other areas in the state are considered hotspots or “emerging hotspots,” including Palm Beach County, according to the report, which Pino said makes it “hard to believe” that Orange can be the only area in the state that met the White House’s criteria.

The Department of Health reported 10,892 new coronavirus cases among Florida residents over the last seven days, and 153 deaths — bringing the toll to 61,701 Floridians dying of COVID-19. Orange County made up 905 of those new cases, agency data shows. The New York Times reports the county as having a daily average of 201 cases, as of Friday.

Though he has not yet looked into how the report arrived at its conclusions, Pino said there was a “group of factors” that contributed to the recent uptick in cases, which he said mostly affects people over 25. Among them is the Electric Daisy Carnival held last month and a rise in testing due to fears over the recently identified omicron variant.

Key to combating the virus, he added, is expanding testing and vaccinations among college students and children between 5 and 11. In the latter group, Pino said there is “a long way to go,” as only 14,000 have gotten a dose of the vaccine.

According to the Department of Health’s report, 71% of Orange County residents over 5 have been vaccinated.

“We’re learning to live with [COVID-19] and learning to survive it,” Pino said. “... Our main focus is to continue to make schools safer and getting colleges and universities to increase their vaccination efforts.”