Orange County gives COVID-19 update as cases decline, deaths increase

According to the latest data, the COVID-19 positivity rate is going down, as of last week. However, the death toll was also said to be going up.

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. - Orange County leaders are speaking as the fight against COVID-19 takes a hopeful turn.

According to the latest data, cases have dropped significantly. The COVID-19 positivity rate is going down, as of last week.

However, the COVID-19 death toll in Orange County was also said to be going up. For the month of August, the total number of deaths went up to 293. To put that into perspective, there were 63 deaths in July and 31 in June.

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Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings is concerned that the Labor Day holiday weekend could bring the COVID-19 positivity rate back up, stating that, "we’re going to see some incidents of super spreader situations at some of the large scale crowded outdoor sporting events. That’s something we should all be concerned about."

However, on Friday, Florida health officials reported 9,148 new COVID-19 cases statewide, which was a 49 percent decrease from the day before.

Orange County to give COVID-19 update as cases decline, deaths increase

Mayor Demings is concerned that the Labor Day holiday weekend could bring the positivity rate back up.

In addition, they said that at least 48,283 Floridians have died of coronavirus since the start of the pandemic. Deaths are counted on the day they occur, not the day they are reported, and can take up to two weeks or more to be reflected in the data.

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Mayor Demings and health officials are providing an update on the ongoing pandemic.

Orange County Government’s Utilities Department continues its participation in the National Wastewater Surveillance System. The program monitors wastewater from water reclamation facilities to analyze the concentration and spread of the coronavirus. Based on that testing, the Lambda and Mu variants were not detected.

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