ORLANDO, Fla. – The U.S. could follow shortly behind the U.K. authorizing the first coronavirus vaccine for distribution later this week as Britain prepares to began administering the vaccine on what it’s calling V-Day.
Other counties around the world continue to prepare for mass distribution of vaccines to curb the spread of COVID-19, which has now killed more than 1.5 million people in about a year.
Meanwhile, top health officials are warning Americans not to let their guard down, as a COVID-19 vaccine is perhaps just days away from being available. With an epic, coast-to-coast surge underway, authorities are urging people anew to wear masks, practice social distancing and follow other basic measures.
The seven-day rolling average of COVID-19 attributable deaths in the U.S. is 2,163. There have been more than 280,000 virus-related deaths in the U.S. over the course of the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Meanwhile, health officials in Orange County are urging people to continue practicing CDC guidelines in an effort to keep their COVID-19 numbers stable. In a news briefing on Monday, Dr. Raul Pino, with the Florida Department of Health in Orange County, said the county has been particularly successful in preventing outbreaks in assisted living facilities, where some of the area’s most vulnerable residents live.
“The state has invested a lot of resources to try to prevent major outbreaks in long-term care facilities and we have achieved it,” Pino said. “We don’t have any major outbreak in any long term facility in Orange County at this point.”
Pino also discussed the CDC’s updated guidance on quarantining after being exposed to someone with COVID-19. Previously, the CDC was asking anyone who came in contact with a positive case to quarantine for 14 days after the initial contact.
The health agency recently updated their guidance to scale back the number of days someone should quarantine, and even more so if someone tests negative for the virus.
“Individuals with no symptoms that are in quarantine at the 10 days can leave the quarantine if they choose to do so without a test result. It continues to be the golden standard that it would be the best practice to wait 14 days, but if you decide to leave quarantine on the 10th day, you should monitor your symptoms for the next four days. I will advise twice a week temperature check. Now, people who want to leave the quarantine at the seventh day, because of work or because you are an essential worker, whatever the reason may be, you can if you have a negative PCR test at the seventh day result,” Pino said.
Pino said the PCR test can be taken on the sixth day and if the negative result comes the seventh day, the exposed person can leave quarantine and monitor symptoms.
Pino did, however, warn that the updated guidance does not apply to those who work in long-term care facilities or residents of such facilities.
He also asked Orange County students who are currently quarantining to continue doing so until they hear from the school district, despite the updated guidance.
“If you are in quarantine right now, do not leave quarantine until you get a communication from the health department or the school system and this is specifically for schools,” Pino said.
He said students’ return to school should be slow and controlled to ensure they don’t bring the virus back into the classroom.
Other Central Florida school districts, including Lake and Volusia counties, have officially scaled back their quarantine periods.
[READ YESTERDAY’S REPORT: Florida reports 8,000 new cases, 96 deaths]
Below is a breakdown of Florida’s COVID-19 numbers for Monday, Dec. 7.
Cases
The Florida Department of Health reported 7,575 new cases on Monday, bringing the state’s overall total to 1,065,785 cases since March.
Deaths
As of Monday’s coronavirus report, a total of 19,529 deaths across the state have been related to the coronavirus, a number that includes 247 non-resident deaths in Florida. The state reported 106 new deaths Monday.
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
As of Monday afternoon, there are currently 4,495 people with the virus hospitalized in Florida, according to the state Agency for Health Care Administration, an increase by about 100 patients from the same time 24 hours ago.
In total, 56,607 people have been hospitalized in Florida after complications from the coronavirus. The state reported 150 new hospitalizations on Monday.
Positivity rate
The percent of positive results ranged from 6.22% to 9.15% over the past two weeks and was 7.64% for tests reported to the state Sunday.
Below is a county-by-county breakdown of COVID-19 data for the Central Florida region.
| County | Cases | New Cases | Hospitalizations | New Hospitalizations | Deaths | New Deaths |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brevard | 16,721 | 95 | 1,235 | 0 | 457 | 1 |
| Flagler | 2,901 | 12 | 201 | 2 | 45 | 0 |
| Lake | 11,301 | 118 | 868 | 0 | 261 | 1 |
| Marion | 13,971 | 71 | 1,197 | 4 | 407 | 5 |
| Orange | 62,041 | 567 | 1,832 | 6 | 658 | 1 |
| Osceola | 19,809 | 184 | 971 | 2 | 247 | 2 |
| Polk | 29,362 | 227 | 3,032 | 2 | 702 | 1 |
| Seminole | 13,770 | 128 | 840 | 0 | 284 | 1 |
| Sumter | 3,745 | 29 | 335 | 1 | 101 | 0 |
| Volusia | 17,498 | 110 | 1,136 | 1 | 385 | 9 |
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.