As Florida averages 1,696 new cases per day, Orange County sees first cases of delta variant

ORLANDO, Fla. – As concerns continue nationwide and globally over the COVID-19 delta variant, Orange County officials reported earlier this week that it has at least 12 confirmed cases.

The delta variant now accounts for 20.6% of all COVID-19 cases in the U.S., nearly doubling over a two-week period, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC data for the two-week period ending on June 5 showed delta variant cases made up 9.5% of the total COVID-19 cases in U.S., but now the CDC is projecting for the period ending on June 19 that the delta variant cases made up 20.6% of all COVID-19 cases.

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Last week, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said she expects the variant will become the dominant COVID-19 strain in the U.S. It is still trailing the alpha variant, which accounts for 52.2% cases in the U.S. The delta variant is highly transmissible, but health officials say current vaccines are able to protect against it.

The Biden administration is urging anyone who has not been vaccinated yet to receive a vaccine as the Fourth of July holiday approaches, which is the day President Joe Biden set as a goal to get 70% of Americans vaccinated. In Central Florida, Dr. Jill Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci visited Osceola County to encourage people to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

At the same time, the CDC is also concerned people are skipping the second dose of the vaccine and estimating more than one in 10 Americans have not received the second dose. Officials with the Food and Drug Administration are also planning to add a warning to mRNA vaccines, which the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are, about the risk of heart inflammation and chest pain.

In general, the cases appeared to be rare and mild, and they are resolved quickly. There have been 323 confirmed reports of the inflammation in people younger than 30, and the vast majority recovered from their symptoms.

[READ THE LAST COVID-19 REPORT: CDC offers warning on delta variant as Florida averages 1,500+ new cases per day in last week ]

Below is a breakdown of Florida COVID-19 data reported by the state on June 25.

Cases

The Florida Department of Health reported 11,873 new cases on Friday that occurred during the past week, bringing the state’s overall total to 2,321,929 cases since the virus was first detected on March 1, 2020. That is an average of 1,696 new infections reported per day.

Deaths

Florida reported 44 new virus-related deaths Friday from the past week. The state reported the cumulative death toll as 37,772. However, when the 44 new deaths are added to the cumulative death total from last week’s report, 37,555, the numbers come out to 37,599. The state has not provided any information as to when these deaths occurred.

The state stopped reporting the number of non-residents who died in Florida with its new weekly reporting method.

Hospitalizations

The state Agency for Health Care Administration deleted its current COVID-19 hospitalization database and the state is no longer reporting how many patients have been hospitalized with the virus.

In the last daily report in early June, since March 2020, 95,607 people had been hospitalized in Florida after complications from COVID-19.

Positivity rate

The DOH reported the percent of positive results from coronavirus tests was 3.8% but did not provide how many people were tested during the past week. Health officials say the rate should remain between 5% and 10% to prove a community has a hold of the virus and is curbing infections.

The positivity rate has remained below 5% in Florida since early June.

Vaccinations

The Florida Department of Health began releasing a daily report in December 2020 on COVID-19 vaccines administered throughout the state. In the new weekly reports, the state is combining the vaccination data with the COVID-19 infection numbers.

FDOH reports 9,212,289 people are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. These individuals either received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine or completed a two-shot series.

During the past week, 281,042 new people have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine.

Central Florida region

The state is no longer providing a breakdown of county-by-county deaths or hospitalizations as of June 3. The Florida DOH is also no longer providing county numbers for non-residents who have tested positive, causing the total case numbers to drop significantly, in some counties by more than 1,000 cases.

For example, with non-resident positive cases as of June 3, Orange County had reported a total of 143,198 but with the state’s new reporting method, the county has 141,941 total cases, a difference of 1,257 positive cases.

Below is the Central Florida region breakdown of new cases, the positivity rate and new vaccination numbers between June 18-24, 2021.

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