Florida reports 13,000 new COVID-19 infections as officials advocate safe vacation habits

ORLANDO, Fla. – A week before Christmas, Florida health and school officials are calling for families to maintain social distance during the holidays and not fuel the spread of the coronavirus, which is spiraling out of control in some parts of the country.

Dr. Raul Pino, of the Florida Department of Health-Orange County, said the transfer will take place within homes and among family members on Thursday, leading to the recent resurgence in Orange County’s coronavirus numbers.

He said the virus does not appear to be spreading in schools, but it does appear to be spreading from children to parents and vice versa.

“So what we’ve seen the biggest increase at the moment is (patients 15 to 14 years old, 35 years and older). Those are the two segments that we’ve seen increases, significant increases. That is the age of children and their parents. So that’s a hint, ”Pino said of indoor transmission.

[RELATED: Orange County schools see increase in COVID-19 cases ahead of winter break | Winter travel raises more fears of viral spread]

Orange County Superintendent, Dr. Barbara Jenkins, said the school district reported 90 new cases on Monday, the highest increase in one day to date.

“We are very concerned that those numbers are increasing,” said Jenkins.

Tens of millions of people are expected to travel to family gatherings or winter vacations at Christmas, despite pleas from public health experts who fear the result could be a fresh rise in COVID-19 cases.

In the US, AAA predicts that between December 23 and January 3, approximately 85 million people will travel, most of them by car. If true, that would be down nearly a third from a year ago, but still a massive movement of people in the midst of a pandemic.

Experts worry that Christmas and New Year will turn into super spreader events as many people are dropping their guard – either from pandemic fatigue or the hopeful news that vaccines are starting to spread.

Click here if you cannot view the dashboard on your mobile.

[READ YESTERDAY’S REPORT: Florida reports more than 13,100 new COVID-19 infections, most since mid-July]

Cases

The Florida Department of Health reported 13,019 new cases on Friday, bringing the state’s total total to 1,181,483 fallen since March.

Editor’s Note: Along with sources previously used by News 6 (state and province by province data), as of December 7, WKMG has added status data from the Florida COVID19 State Testing Totals from the Florida Department of Health. This new dataset contains the number of people tested the day before, which is the number of public health officials to calculate the state’s daily positivity rate.

Deaths

Florida reported 96 new virus deaths Friday. This means at least 20,690 people have died related to the coronavirus statewide, including 289 non-residents who died in Florida.

Hospital admissions

From Friday afternoon there are currently 5,182 people hospitalized in Florida with the virus, the state said Agency for the Administration of Health Care, an increase of about 55 patients within 24 hours.

Since March 59,602 people have been hospitalized in Florida after complications from the coronavirus. That number includes the 311 people recently hospitalized for the virus, according to the health department report.

Positivity rate

The positivity rate for the 148,718 tests reported Friday was 8.75%. This statistic is the number of people who tested positive for the first time based on test results reported to the state on Thursday.

See COVID-19 data for the Central Florida region below:

Province	Cases	New cases	Hospital admissions	New Hospital admissions	Deaths	New dead
Brevard	18,729	218	1,352	3	494	4
Flagler	3,215	36	213	2	46	-1
Lake	13,157	191	919	16	283	7
Marion	15,647	214	1,250	8	431	1
Orange	67,577	791	1,878	15	703	6
Osceola	22,593	240	1030	4	270	-2
Polk	32,809	377	3,239	20	745	6
Seminole	16,097	159	872	2	302	1
Sumter	4313	92	364	2	109	0
Volusia	19,569	235	1,221	10	400	2

To keep up to date with the latest news about the pandemic, subscribe to News 6’s coronavirus newsletter and go to Click Orlando.com/coronavirus.

The Associated Press and Adrienne Cutway contributed to this report.