Officials see signs isolation working

Social distancing may be producing results in Orange, Seminole

Seminole County officials said Friday they caught at least five people who had tested positive for the coronavirus going out in public and ordered them home.

But those officials and their counterparts in Orange County also shared a rare bit of good news in the fight against the worldwide pandemic — there are early signs that social distancing measures that took effect a little more than a week ago in both counties are making a difference.

Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said confirmed cases of the virus were on pace to double every three days in his county, but now are spreading more slowly — doubling every 3.8 days.

Seminole County was on track to double every four days and, at that rate, would have 198 confirmed cases by now. But the actual number on Friday was 168, said Donna Walsh, the county’s officer from the state department of health.

“We can make a difference,” Walsh said. “We can do what they call flatten the curve. If you look at

the data you’ll see that our curve is flattening.”

But, she added, the virus won’t disappear and the community must remain vigilant. Officials don’t expect the number of cases to peak in the region until the beginning of May.

Demings said he and Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer spoke with executives from local hospital systems Friday, who said were working on models to better project when a surge of new cases could arrive. For now, officials are projecting the peak is still 32 days away.

Demings said the hospitals have enough supplies and beds for the next week, but they’re concerned about a surge if the worst projections hold.

“Their fear is, if the predictions of a surge and peaks in a worst-case scenario come true, they don’t have nearly enough capacity,” he said.

The county also reported two new deaths on Friday, said Dr. Raul Pino, Orange’s state health officer.

Both were women in their 80s, who died in clinical settings. One was at an assisted living facility, though Pino declined to name which one.

That facility was inspected by the Florida Department of Health and Agency for Healthcare Administration, which found

no operational deficiencies.

“It’s critical we keep this virus away from assistedliving facilities,” Pino said. “This is a very vulnerable population, most are over 65 with pre-existing conditions.”

His office received results from random testing at five assisted living facilities in the county taken two weeks ago, he said. All 50 tests which were conducted to assess the spread of the virus came back negative.

In all, Orange County has 602 cases of COVID-19, and could surpass 1,000 by next Friday, Pino said.

Alan Harris, Seminole’s emergency management director, said the county’s new order to require people with the virus to stay home became necessary when health officials discovered some patients were going out to shop or “run errands.”

“This is extremely scary, and we will not tolerate it,” Harris said.

County officials said they often call people who tested positive for the virus to find out how they are doing. But in some cases, the individuals didn’t answer their phones at first, and later said they were running errands.

In another case, a resident called county officials after noticing their neighbor who tested positive for COVID-19 get in their car and drive away.

Harris said the county

has been delivering food, pharmaceuticals and other necessities to people who are sick with the virus so that they don’t need to break their self-quarantine.

Orange County Sheriff John Mina echoed the frustration about unnecessary trips out in public or large gatherings. He said some residents and business owners aren’t complying with the stay-at-home order, and said his deputies respond each day to large gatherings or businesses not in compliance.

“It’s easy to look at those numbers on the TV, but again those are real lives and real people we’re talking about,” Mina said of his frustration. “If you stay at home, we will save lives.”

Seminole Sheriff Dennis Lemma added the deputies issued two written warnings to a hair salon in Altamonte Springs for violating the county’s “social distancing” order requiring businesses to have patrons stand at least six feet apart.

“If you are doing nails or hair then you need to stop that,” Lemma said.

Seminole and Orange counties also on Friday provided “heat maps” that show where the virus is most concentrated by zip code.

The deeper the red, the more cases.

Six cities in Orange had 10 or more: Orlando 118; Winter Park 14; Apopka, Maitland and Ocoee 11 each; and Winter Garden 10.

Meanwhile, testing at the Orange County Convention Center shut down at 9:07 a.m., seven minutes after the state-run site officially opened.

Orange County government’s twitter account attributed the abrupt halt to “volume and demand.”

The drive-through COVID-19 testing opened to more people Wednesday after state Emergency Management officials lifted an age restriction.

The site will test anyone with a pre-existing medical condition such as asthma, diabetes or cancer.

Anyone who is symptomatic according to guidelines established by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also can be tested for coronavirus, which is blamed for more than 6,700 US deaths, including 3,000 in New York and 163 in Florida. Florida’s death toll has more than doubled in two days, according to state health officials.

Until Wednesday, the site tested only first-responders, healthcare workers or persons age 65 or older with a fever or other symptoms outlined by the CDC.

The site has collected 2,224 samples, according to a spokesman for the Florida National Guard, which has 1,674 Guardsmen on active duty for COVID-19.