ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – A crippling pandemic didn’t stop history from being made on Florida’s Space Coast on Sunday.
SpaceX launched four astronauts aboard a Falcon 9 rocket for a six-month mission on the International Space Station.
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The last time there was a crewed launch from Kennedy Space Center was on May 30, when NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley were launched into space. Back then, Brevard County had 420 total COVID-19 cases.
That number has expanded exponentially in the past five months. Now, Brevard County has experienced more than 13,000 cases and 400-plus COVID-19 deaths.
Officials are expecting as many as 250,000 spectators Sunday evening, causing both traffic and social distancing concerns.
[READ MORE: How Orange County is preparing for COVID-19 vaccine distribution]
Below is information provided by the Florida Department of Health for Sunday, Nov. 15.
Cases
The Florida Department of Health reported 10,105 new cases on Sunday, bringing the state’s overall total to 885,201 cases since March.
Deaths
The Florida Department of Health on Sunday reported 30 people have recently died from COVID-19. As of Sunday’s coronavirus report, a total of 17,734 deaths across the state have been related to the coronavirus, a number that includes 216 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 3,118 people with the virus hospitalized in Florida as of Sunday afternoon, according to the state Agency for Health Care Administration.
[READ YESTERDAY’S REPORT: As vaccine talks ramp up, Florida reports 4,544 new coronavirus cases]
Below is a breakdown of the coronavirus numbers across the 10-county Central Florida region for Nov. 15:
| County | Cases | New Cases | Hospitalizations | New Hospitalizations | Deaths | New Deaths |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brevard | 13,602 | 150 | 1,107 | 0 | 409 | 0 |
| Flagler | 2,399 | 20 | 178 | 1 | 40 | 0 |
| Lake | 9,623 | 96 | 769 | 2 | 243 | 0 |
| Marion | 11,739 | 49 | 1,118 | 0 | 364 | 0 |
| Orange | 51,575 | 745 | 1,676 | 0 | 604 | 1 |
| Osceola | 15,988 | 246 | 893 | 1 | 228 | 0 |
| Polk | 25,252 | 232 | 2,683 | 6 | 648 | 0 |
| Seminole | 11,490 | 90 | 780 | 0 | 255 | 0 |
| Sumter | 3,160 | 12 | 302 | 0 | 89 | 0 |
| Volusia | 14,238 | 80 | 1,022 | 2 | 342 | 1 |
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