ORLANDO, Fla. – Gov. Ron DeSantis visited a senior center in Bay County Sunday morning to provide an update on the state’s vaccine rollout plan.
DeSantis reiterated the state’s position of prioritizing people ages 65 and older, as well as healthcare workers and first responders. According to the state’s vaccination report, more than half a million people have received the vaccine.
[Register for the COVID-19 vaccine in Florida here]
But Seminole County Emergency manager told News 6′s Justin Warmoth during The Weekly there is still a long way to go.
“So far we’ve only received 20,000 doses and the priority group in Seminole County [is[ somewhere in the range of 160 [to] 170,000 people,” Harris said. “So clearly not even a dent, not even 10% of what we really need.”
Across the state DeSantis said the demand for vaccines is outweighing the supply.
“If you can’t get in now, just hang in here because not only is there going to be more opportunities in the future [as] we get more vaccine in the short term we want to get that out, so you may be able to sign up very soon,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis said the state is working with churches to vaccinate the most vulnerable. He also hinted the pilot program with Publix that launched last week in Citrus, Hernando, and Marion counties will expand.
“I can tell you they’re doing a fantastic job. All the seniors I talked to are really thrilled with it,” DeSantis said. “We’ll be making another announcement this week about expanding that footprint.”
[READ YESTERDAY’S REPORT: Florida reports 15,000 new cases of COVID-19, 139 deaths]
Below is a breakdown of Florida COVID-19 data reported by the state on Jan. 10:
Cases
The Florida Department of Health reported 12,313 new cases on Sunday, bringing the state’s overall total to 1,477,010 cases since March.
Deaths
Florida reported 111 new virus-related deaths Sunday. This means at least 23,261 people have died in relation to the coronavirus across the state, including 346 non-residents who died in Florida.
Hospitalizations
As of Sunday, there were currently 7,497 people with the virus hospitalized in Florida, according to the state Agency for Health Care Administration.
Since March, 65,595 people have been hospitalized in Florida after complications from the coronavirus. That number includes the 194 patients who have been recently hospitalized due to the virus, according to the health department’s daily report.
Positivity rate
The percent of positive results ranged from 8.95% to 23.37% over the past two weeks and was 10.42% Sunday
Health officials say the rate should remain between 5% and 10% to prove a community has a hold of the virus and is curbing infections.
Vaccinations
The Florida Department of Health recently began releasing a daily report on COVID-19 vaccines administered throughout the state. As of Sunday afternoon, 558,326 people have been vaccinated in Florida.
See COVID-19 data for the Central Florida region below:
| County | Cases | New cases | Hospitalizations | New hospitalizations | Deaths | New Deaths |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brevard | 23,944 | 117 | 1,518 | 0 | 557 | 8 |
| Flagler | 4,342 | 63 | 252 | 2 | 51 | 1 |
| Lake | 17,973 | 231 | 1,023 | 1 | 334 | 1 |
| Marion | 20,537 | 220 | 1,401 | 8 | 504 | 6 |
| Orange | 86,634 | 759 | 2,035 | 1 | 778 | 1 |
| Osceola | 28,480 | 229 | 1,118 | 1 | 307 | 3 |
| Polk | 42,422 | 366 | 3,431 | 5 | 834 | 0 |
| Seminole | 20,464 | 136 | 945 | 3 | 320 | 0 |
| Sumter | 5,975 | 71 | 398 | 1 | 122 | 0 |
| Volusia | 25,461 | 261 | 1,327 | 10 | 462 | 0 |
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