Central Florida zipcode becomes hotbed of new COVID-19 cases, majority are young people, officials report
OVIEDO, Fla. - Seminole County’s Emergency Management Director is calling Oviedo’s 32765 zipcode a COVID-19 hotspot, stating that they have had 100 people test positive for the virus there since June 8th, continuing a recent spike in Seminole County.
“For the 5th straight day we had over 40 individuals as new positive cases here in Seminole County,” said Alan Harris, the Seminole County Emergency Management Director. He held a news conference on Wednesday morning at a pop-up COVID-19 test site to warn residents that they are seeing a consistent spike. They want those with symptoms to get tested.
The county’s numbers are showing that the majority of the people testing positive right now are between the ages of 18 and 30. Donna Walsh, the Director of the Florida Department of Health in Seminole County, said that "20-something-year-old’s just within the last week we had 114 cases."
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Governor Ron DeSantis told reporters on Tuesday that an increase in testing and test sites are the reason Florida is seeing a spike. However, Seminole County leaders are insisting that is not the case here.
Walsh said that “these young people have been symptomatic. And they’ve gone to urgent care doctors’ offices and hospitals to be tested. So what we’re seeing here locally does not seem to be related to our increased community testing for asymptomatic and symptomatic."
When the health officials working with those who are sick and doing contact tracing, they said that they are getting the same answers from those in their 20’s. Harris explained that “the sick individuals have all stated they’ve been around a pub, a bar or an event during the holiday weekend. Saying yeah, my friend was at the same pool party, my friend was at the same bar."
Seminole County gave FOX 35 Orlando countywide numbers, showing that 91 people tested positive for COVID-19 in May. So far in June, 254 people new people have tested positive for the virus.
“These individuals work somewhere. These individuals shop somewhere. These individuals shop in shopping plaza’s,” Harris said. That is why he said it is so important for everyone to continue practicing social distancing, wearing masks in public, and washing their hands frequently.
500 people were tested for COVID-19 at the pop-up test site in the Carillion Elementary School parking lot on Wednesday. County officials said that they will be back with more pop-up testing there on Tuesday.
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