ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – American health officials are sounding the alarm as cases of coronavirus continue to climb -- and climb fast.
Officials say a new wave appears bigger and more widespread than the surges that happened in the spring and summer. But experts say there are also reasons to think the nation is better able to deal with the virus this time around.
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“We’re definitely in a better place” when it comes to improved medical tools and knowledge, said William Hanage, a Harvard University infectious-disease researcher.
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Texas became America’s first state Wednesday with more than 1 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, as sporting events were canceled and the border city of El Paso added mobile morgues in anticipation of virus deaths overwhelming hospitals for weeks.
Florida is more than 100,000 cases away from hitting the same grim milestone.
Some governors made increasingly desperate pleas for people to take the fight against the virus more seriously.
[Coronavirus: Florida mayor accuses governor of pursuing herd immunity]
Experts say the short-term outlook is grim, with colder weather and Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s ahead. Generations of family members gathering indoors for meals for extended periods “is not a recipe for anything good,” Hanage said.
Below is information provided by the Florida Department of Health for Thursday, Nov. 12.
Cases
The Florida Department of Health reported 5,607 new cases on Thursday, bringing the state’s overall total to 863,619 cases since March.
Deaths
The Florida Department of Health on Thursday reported 73 people have recently died from COVID-19. As of Thursday’s coronavirus report, a total of 17,585 deaths across the state have been related to the coronavirus, a number that includes 213 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 3,062 people with the virus hospitalized in Florida, according to the state Agency for Health Care Administration.
The state DOH reported 157 new hospitalizations on Thursday, bringing Florida’s total since the pandemic arrived in March to 51,272 people hospitalized.
Positivity Rate
The percent of positive results ranged from 5.79% to 8.31% over the past two weeks and was 7.35% Wednesday.
[READ YESTERDAY’S REPORT: Hospitalizations on the rise in Florida as COVID-19 cases continue to be reported]
Below is a breakdown of the coronavirus numbers across the 10-county Central Florida region for Nov. 12:
| County | Cases | New Cases | Hospitalizations | New Hospitalizations | Deaths | New Deaths |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brevard | 13,167 | 75 | 1,091 | 2 | 400 | 0 |
| Flagler | 2,337 | 13 | 176 | 2 | 40 | 0 |
| Lake | 9,424 | 64 | 765 | 5 | 241 | 3 |
| Marion | 11,508 | 53 | 1,104 | 0 | 362 | 0 |
| Orange | 50,135 | 383 | 1,657 | 3 | 600 | -1 |
| Osceola | 15,555 | 114 | 880 | 6 | 229 | 14 |
| Polk | 24,829 | 168 | 2,568 | 3 | 644 | 1 |
| Seminole | 11,234 | 89 | 776 | 1 | 255 | 2 |
| Sumter | 3,114 | 6 | 301 | 1 | 89 | 0 |
| Volusia | 13,986 | 49 | 1,014 | 7 | 333 | 0 |
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