Orange County, Florida Mayor Jerry Demings has extended the state of emergency he declared a week ago for another seven days. Orange County currently has a 20.83% positivity rate. In late May, it was sitting at 4.7%, which is when mask mandates lifted.
Demings stated in a press conference that the county is still recording more than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases per day on average. Yesterday, August 4, saw 1,409 new cases, with unvaccinated individuals making up 98% of that number. Approximately 63% of eligible Orange County residents are currently vaccinated.
Dr. Raul Pino did say the county is seeing a larger demand for the COVID-19 vaccine, especially among younger generations who initially did not receive it. Unfortunately, officials expect hospitalizations and deaths will continue to increase over the next two weeks.
Walt Disney World has reinstated an indoor mask mandate for all guests, regardless of vaccination status. Universal Orlando Resort is encouraging guests to wear masks indoors but has not officially changed the policy.
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Where does it say that deaths are up, or are going to be up?
Deaths typically come about 2 weeks after positive cases.
Ugh. We’re there in 3 weeks. My wife and I are vaccinated, our son isn’t. We should be okay with indoor masks, but this still feels a little like going swimming in a cesspool.
No one said you couldn’t wear a mask everywhere
Same exact situation for me, my wife, and 4-year-old son. I’m trying to get comfortable with him getting COVID down there, but the state of emergency is making us second guess how fun this first trip to Disney is going to be.
just as an FYI-both Florida and Texas are in the bottom 1/3 for deaths per capita. So…hmmm. The media is continuing to politicize this nightmare. More cases does not mean more death. And the death rate is the real indicator.
Tell that to the 84 people who died of covid in Florida yesterday. It’s not “politicizing,” it’s reporting. Florida has banned even releasing the count of children who are perishing because it is so bad. How political do you think their parents think covid is?
Is dying really the be all and end all (I mean I guess it is literally). There are plenty of other scenarios where just getting gravely ill is a terrible thing – and COVID is awful when you get it. Believe me, I know.
Yes, deaths should be the only thing that matters, for the same reason that we weren’t tracking how many people got a cold before all of this. You don’t make societal changes, destroy the economy and wreck physical and mental health just because some people are losing their sense of taste for a few days.