White House report calls Orange a hot spot

Orange County was labeled a COVID-19 hotspot this week in the White House’s COVID-19 community profile report.

Communities are labeled hotspots if they have “reached a threshold of disease activity considered as being of high burden.” Orange is the only county in the Orlando metropolitan area that has this designation, one of two in Central Florida and one of four in the state.

Orange is also one of four rapid riser counties, according to Thursday’s report. Raul Pino, the head of the Florida Department of Health in Orange County, said last Saturday that there was a “group of factors” that contributed to the recent case increase in the county, including the Electric Daisy Carnival held last month and a rise in testing. At that time, Orange had not entered hotspot status.

Statewide, the Florida Department of Health reported 13,530 new coronavirus cases this week among Florida residents to bring the cumulative total to 3,710,507. With 325 more fatalities on record, 62,026 Florida residents have died.

This week’s 325 deaths reflect an increase from the 153 reported last week, but deaths can take several days or weeks to be reported. The majority of the newly reported deaths are people who died before this week.

The number of weekly cases increased compared to the previous week’s 10,892. Positivity increased to 2.6% but that’s for new cases only and excludes anyone who previously tested positive. Seminole’s positivity rate is 3.5%; Lake is 3.6%; Osceola is at 3.1%; and Volusia is over 4%. The World Health Organization recommended in May 2020 that the positivity rate stay below 5% for at least two weeks before governments consider reopening.

Of note, the state reports deal only with Florida resident cases and exclude non-residents cases, which are no longer available.

Across the state, 1,280 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 from Dec. 1-7, according to the latest White House report. In comparison, 1,171 were hospitalized the previous week. The week before that, it was 1,307.

Statewide, 14,540,602 residents, or 70% of people age 5 and up, have received at least one vaccination shot, including 9,256,800 who have completed their shot regimens through Dec. 9. Statewide, 333,086 received an additional dose last week, bringing the total to 3,377,192.

Central Florida added 2,777 resident infections this week, based on the actual date the state opened the case, for a total of 729,732; 916 more in Orange for 231,979; 287 more in Osceola for 73,093; 376 more in Polk for 130,542; 238 more in Lake for 55,746; 56 more in Sumter for 14,863; 356 more in Volusia for 77,710; 297 more in Brevard for 82,136; and 251 more in Seminole for 63,663.