5,143 new infections as cases rise slightly

Florida added 5,143 coronavirus cases Wednesday to bring the cumulative total to 2,021,656. With 30 more fatalities, 32,850 Florida residents are now dead.

Cases flattened and are now slightly rising. Deaths are declining.

As of Wednesday’s report, the latest seven-day case count is 32,632, compared to the seven days before that which was 31,438.

For deaths, it’s 346 in the past seven days, compared with 556 for the seven days before that.

Each report includes deaths from several previous days, as it can take two weeks or more for fatalities to be logged.

To date, 85,394 people have been hospitalized in Florida, according to the state’s report, which includes 209 newly reported hospitalizations since Tuesday’s update.

Across the state, 2,883 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of about 2 p.m. Wednesday, including 147 in Orange County, 66 in Osceola, 35 in Lake and 54 in Seminole. The state’s online tool updates several times throughout the day.

Statewide, 5,205,239 people have received at least one vaccination shot, including 2,853,667 who have completed their shot regimen, whether it’s the two-dose Pfizer or Moderna option or the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The count is a snapshot through Tuesday, based on the report released Wednesday.

Of those who have received at least the first dose, 3,216,794 are over the age of 65.

To date, 11,711,650 people have been tested in Florida, 24,603 more than Tuesday’s total.

Statewide, the latest positivity rate reported Wednesday for Tuesday’s test results by the Florida Department of Health was 6%, but that’s for new cases only and excludes anyone who previously tested positive. For all cases including retests of those previously infected, the latest positivity rate is 7.37%.

Central Florida added 1,247 cases Wednesday for a total of 358,020: 378 more in Orange for 121,173; 124 more in Polk for 60,115; 125 in Osceola

for 38,968; 216 in Volusia for 37,103; 110 in Brevard for 36,548; 105 in Seminole for 29,270; 107 in Lake for 26,199; and 82 in Sumter for 8,644.

There were four new deaths across all eight Central Florida counties bringing the region’s toll to 5,640, although Orange County’s total was one less than what was reported Tuesday. Polk County has the most coronavirus fatalities in the region with 1,221, followed by 1,169 in Orange, 792 in Brevard, 700 in Volusia, 592 in Lake, 473 in Osceola, 450 in Seminole and 243 in Sumter.

The virus has infected over 124.4 million people and has killed over 2.7 million worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University & Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center. Nationwide, 29.9 million people have been infected and over 544,000 have died.