Florida COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations decline as state reports 1,872 new cases

ORLANDO, Fla. – Efforts to beat back the pandemic appear to be working in Florida.

Hospitalizations from COVID-19 are at their lowest level in the state in over a year, the Florida Hospital Association said Wednesday.

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According to their data, the state’s hospitalizations have declined 19% in the last two weeks and stand 38% lower than one month ago.

Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said the county could reach phase 3, which initially meant he would lift all mask mandates and COVID-19 rules, by Friday. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, however, recently eliminated COVID mandates across the state, including local restrictions.

According to Demings, Wednesday marked the 11th straight day that the county’s 14-day rolling coronavirus positivity rate has been at 5% or below. Under the county rules, which cannot be enforced due to DeSantis’ order, there must either be a positivity rate below 5% for 14 consecutive days, or 70% of the county’s 16-and-older population with at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, in order to reach phase 3.

Demings is encouraging Central Floridians not to let their guards down.

“I don’t want people to assume that things are totally back to normal because they will not be at that point. But we’re simply trying to give guidance to our community with reasonable benchmarks, where people have an idea about what the living experience should be for them within our county,” Demings said.

The city of Orlando is offering mobile vaccination events at community centers across the city in an effort to make it more convenient for parents to get their kids vaccinated.

There will be a vaccine event Friday offering the Pfizer vaccine for anyone 12 and up at the Englewood Neighborhood Center. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

[READ YESTERDAY’S REPORT: School districts debate mask policies as Florida reports 1,261 new COVID-19 cases ]

Find the state-run COVID-19 dashboard below:

Below is a breakdown of Florida COVID-19 data reported by the state on June 3.

Cases

The Florida Department of Health reported 1,872 new cases on Thursday, bringing the state’s overall total to 2,329,867 cases since the virus was first detected on March 1, 2020.

Deaths

Florida reported 52 new virus-related deaths Thursday, bringing the death toll to 37,717. This number included the 744 non-residents who died in Florida.

Hospitalizations

As of Thursday afternoon, there were currently 1,798 people with the virus hospitalized in Florida, according to the state Agency for Health Care Administration.

Since March 2020, 95,607 people have been hospitalized in Florida after complications from COVID-19. That number includes the 169 new patients who have been recently hospitalized due to the virus, according to the health department’s daily report released on Wednesday.

Positivity rate

The percent of positive results was 3.15% Wednesday out of 59,466 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.

The positivity rate has remained below 5% for more than 15 days in Florida.

Vaccinations

The Florida Department of Health began releasing a daily report in December 2020 on COVID-19 vaccines administered throughout the state.

FDOH reports 8,393,060 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 Thursday, 10,397,299 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 Thursday.

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