ORLANDO, Fla. – Orange County began its new vaccination strategy on Monday, opening a vaccination site at Barber Park.
Officials said 1,000 doses a day of the Pfizer vaccine will be given away each day for five days, 9 a.m to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Appointments for the site can be made at ocfl.net/VaccineSites.
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This new strategy comes as the county looks to end the use of the Orange County Convention Center as a mass vaccination site. The convention center is offering its last first doses of the Pfizer vaccine on May 5 and, 21 days later, will close on May 26, moving out of the North Concourse just in time for returning conventions and shows to move back in.
At the same time, Florida is seeing a rise in new cases of COVID-19. The state reported 42,092 new cases last week, which is about an 11% increase over the previous week — when Florida had 37,864 new cases of the disease.
New hospitalizations from the virus also increased with 1,221 last week compared to 1,104 the week before. However, despite those increases, the number of new deaths from COVID-19 saw a significant drop. According to the state, 357 new deaths were reported last week. That’s a nearly 30% decrease from the previous week when 509 new deaths were reported.
[READ YESTERDAY’S REPORT: Florida sees 5,558 new COVID-19 cases as state prepares for another week of vaccinations ]
Find the state-run COVID-19 dashboard below:
Below is a breakdown of Florida COVID-19 data reported by the state on April 12.
Cases
The Florida Department of Health reported 1,656 new cases on Monday, bringing the state’s overall total to 2,125,846 cases since the virus was first detected on March 1, 2020.
Deaths
Florida reported 35 new virus-related deaths Monday, bringing the death toll to 34,720. This number includes the 664 non-residents who died in Florida.
Hospitalizations
As of Monday afternoon, there were currently 3,184 people with the virus hospitalized in Florida, according to the state Agency for Health Care Administration.
Since last March, 87,024 people have been hospitalized in Florida after complications from COVID-19. That number includes the 55 new patients who have been recently hospitalized due to the virus, according to the health department’s daily report released on Monday.
Positivity rate
The percent of positive results was 8% Sunday out of 20,705 tests. The numbers reported daily by the state reflect test results from the day prior. 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 began releasing a daily report in December on COVID-19 vaccines administered throughout the state.
FDOH reports 4,447,965 people are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. These individuals either received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine or completed a two-shot series.
As of Sunday, 7,291,420 people have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine.
Below is the Central Florida region breakdown of new cases, deaths and hospitalizations for Monday.
| County | Cases | New Cases | Hospitalizations | New hospitalizations | Deaths | New deaths |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brevard | 38,547 | 39 | 2,213 | 0 | 831 | 3 |
| Flagler | 6,901 | 7 | 372 | 1 | 104 | 2 |
| Lake | 27,654 | 22 | 1,418 | 0 | 616 | 3 |
| Marion | 29,618 | 13 | 2,012 | 1 | 938 | 1 |
| Orange | 128,700 | 136 | 2,653 | 7 | 1,214 | 0 |
| Osceola | 41,191 | 47 | 1,381 | 1 | 489 | 0 |
| Polk | 63,319 | 79 | 4,904 | 1 | 1,273 | 0 |
| Seminole | 31,342 | 25 | 1,210 | 0 | 473 | 1 |
| Sumter | 8,990 | 2 | 563 | 0 | 264 | 1 |
| Volusia | 40,094 | 29 | 2,027 | 1 | 740 | 1 |
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