Thousands of bikers are set to roar through Daytona Beach starting Thursday as the city kicks off Biketoberfest.
The festival comes as more cases of COVID-19 have been reported throughout the Sunshine State. Volusia County officials are expected to hold a news conference Thursday to address concerns regarding Biketoberfest and the potential spread of the coronavirus. Come back to this story at 2 p.m. to watch the update live. You can also watch the news conference live on the News 6 official Facebook page.
Vice President Mike Pence will also be in South Florida on Thursday campaigning ahead of the November election.
Nearly 2 million voters have already cast their ballots from a distance, and presidential candidates Donald Trump and Joe Biden continue to make sweeping attempts to spend the few days campaigning in Florida before early voting kicks off.
The coronavirus pandemic brought a push for mail-in ballots, citing a safe option for those concerned with contracting the virus. As of Wednesday morning, 1,916,920 Floridians have returned their mail-in ballots, according to the U.S. Elections Project.
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Below is the information provided by the Florida Department of Health for Thursday, Oct. 15.
Cases
The department of health reported 3,356 new cases on Thursday, bringing the state’s overall total to 744,988.
Deaths
The Florida Department of Health on Thursday reported 144 people have recently died from COVID-19. As of Thursday’s report, 15,932 deaths across the state have been related to the coronavirus, a number that includes 196 non-resident deaths in Florida.
State health officials have always maintained that virus fatalities are often delayed in being reported to the FDOH, with some deaths not reported for a month or more.
Hospitalizations
The state reported 211 new hospitalizations on Thursday, meaning the state has seen a total of 46,693 patients admitted into a hospital since March in relation to COVID-19.
Currently, there are 2,130 people with the virus hospitalized in Florida, according to the state Agency for Health Care Administration.
Positivity Rate
The percent of positive results ranged from 3.43% to 7.86% over the past two weeks and was 5.20% Wednesday.
[SEE YESTERDAY’S REPORT: With final early voting preps underway, Florida reports 2,883 new COVID-19 cases]
If you are having trouble viewing the dashboard on mobile, click here.
Central Florida County-By-County Breakdown:
| County | Cases | New Cases | Hospitalizations | New Hospitalizations | Deaths | New Deaths |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brevard | 10,183 | 73 | 937 | 10 | 337 | 6 |
| Flagler | 1,904 | 12 | 158 | 0 | 33 | 0 |
| Lake | 8,047 | 35 | 679 | 7 | 211 | 0 |
| Marion | 10,301 | 43 | 1,026 | 7 | 334 | 4 |
| Orange | 42,778 | 206 | 1,477 | 13 | 528 | 5 |
| Osceola | 13,313 | 63 | 720 | 4 | 178 | 4 |
| Polk | 21,456 | 102 | 2,238 | 11 | 569 | 6 |
| Seminole | 9,561 | 37 | 710 | 10 | 233 | 2 |
| Sumter | 2,716 | 16 | 270 | 1 | 78 | 1 |
| Volusia | 11,739 | 90 | 906 | 6 | 299 | 3 |
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