ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Orange County leaders are urging caution heading into the Fourth of July holiday as the county is seeing a slight increase in the number of COVID-19 cases.
Mayor Jerry Demings was joined by Dr. Raul Pino from the Florida Department of Health in Orange County during the county’s 139th briefing on the COVID-19 pandemic Monday afternoon
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The mayor stressed that part of the cause for concern was the number of Americans who will be heading to the Orlando area for the holiday weekend.
“AAA is forecasting that Fourth of July holiday travel will be close to pre-pandemic levels,” Demings said. “AAA travel bookings show Orlando is the No. 1 spot for tourists this holiday.”
Despite the slight increase in cases, leaders said that the county’s positivity rate remains below 5%.
“Our 14-day positivity rate is now 4.1%, which is an increase of about .4% from June 18,” Demings said.
The mayor added that about 57.86% of the county’s 12 and older population have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Pino added that the county now has 23 confirmed cases of the more contagious delta variant — last week the county reported 12 cases.
The doctor added that the county has seen a significant decrease in the number of deaths from coronavirus infections.
“We only have 16 cases so far this month that have died that are county residents. Last month prior to that (May), the number was 54,” Pino said.
The doctor credited vaccinations with the decrease in deaths from COVID-19 and encouraged everyone who has not yet been inoculated to get the shot.