ORLANDO, Fla. – With promising news from coronavirus vaccine trials, Florida continued to report thousands of new cases of the virus on Monday as the country surpassed more than 10 million coronavirus cases since March.
U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer said Monday that early data on its coronavirus vaccine suggests the shots may be a surprisingly robust 90% effective at preventing COVID-19, putting the company on track to apply later this month for emergency-use approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
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The encouraging news comes as confirmed cases in the U.S. were expected to eclipse 10 million on Monday, the highest in the world.
President Donald Trump reacted to the news Monday in a tweet writing, “STOCK MARKET UP BIG, VACCINE COMING SOON. REPORT 90% EFFECTIVE. SUCH GREAT NEWS!”
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Meanwhile President-elect Joe Biden formed a coronavirus advisory board that met over the weekend to help him manage the surge in new infections in the coming months as more than 236,000 people have now died from COVID-19 in America.
“Dealing with the coronavirus pandemic is one of the most important battles our administration will face, and I will be informed by science and by experts,” Biden said in a statement. “The advisory board will help shape my approach to managing the surge in reported infections; ensuring vaccines are safe, effective, and distributed efficiently, equitably, and free; and protecting at-risk populations.”
Biden implored everyone in the country to wear masks as their best line of defense against the virus because even after the vaccine is ready it could take months before its distributed country-wide.
On Friday, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings revealed the Department of Health planned to shift the timing when the department release daily COVID-19 data to the afternoon. DOH has not responded to questions about this change.
The Florida COVID-19 dashboard and website were updated before 5 p.m. Monday, for the past eight months those updates have normally come around 11 a.m.
Cases
The Florida Department of Health reported 3,924 new cases on Monday, bringing the state’s overall total to 847,821 cases since March.
Deaths
The Florida Department of Health on Monday reported 58 people have recently died from COVID-19. As of Monday’s coronavirus report, a total of 17,391 deaths across the state have been related to the coronavirus, a number that includes 212 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
Currently, there are 2,902 people with the virus hospitalized in Florida, according to the state Agency for Health Care Administration, an increase by about 100 patients in the last 24 hours.
The state DOH reported 102 new hospitalizations on Monday, bringing Florida’s total since the pandemic arrived in March to 50,591 people hospitalized.
Positivity Rate
The percent of positive results ranged from 4.91% to 8.27% over the past two weeks and was 8.07% for tests reported Sunday.
[READ YESTERDAY’S REPORT: Florida reports 6,000 new positive COVID-19 cases, 22 new deaths]
Below is a breakdown of cases across the 10-county Central Florida region:
| County | Cases | New cases | Hospitalizations | New hospitalizations | Deaths | New deaths |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brevard | 12,780 | 100 | 1,059 | 1 | 392 | 0 |
| Flagler | 2,295 | 9 | 173 | 0 | 40 | 0 |
| Lake | 9,246 | 51 | 751 | 0 | 236 | 1 |
| Marion | 11,359 | 46 | 1,094 | 1 | 362 | 0 |
| Orange | 49,029 | 300 | 1,645 | 1 | 592 | 1 |
| Osceola | 15,213 | 107 | 860 | 1 | 211 | 0 |
| Polk | 24,227 | 98 | 2,531 | 5 | 638 | 0 |
| Seminole | 11,004 | 66 | 771 | 1 | 253 | 3 |
| Sumter | 3,087 | 1 | 300 | 2 | 88 | 0 |
| Volusia | 13,748 | 95 | 1,001 | 3 | 331 | 2 |