Two Central Florida counties exceed 1,000 COVID-19 deaths

ORLANDO, Fla. – Polk and Orange counties reported their 1,000 coronavirus-related deaths on Friday since the pandemic began. Both counties have already exceeded 1,000 virus deaths each.

This is while the elderly in Florida are still struggling to schedule appointments for the COVID-19 vaccine. Making an appointment to receive the COVID-19 vaccine can be anything but quick and painless.

A Florida woman is helping people she never met to get on the coveted list.

Jenn Greenberg helped dozens of elderly people she never met navigate the confusing and often chaotic process of obtaining a COVID-19 vaccine.

Greenberg is part of a 120-member voluntary force helping Florida residents 65 and over to overcome the daunting obstacles of state-run registration systems that are poorly organized and heavily dependent on technology that is often like a foreign language for they.

[Here’s how to register for the COVID-19 vaccine in Florida]

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“I realized how many barriers there were, which made aligning commitments very difficult,” said Greenberg.

She says the systems not only negatively affect the elderly, but also exacerbate racial and income disparities.

Congresswoman Anna Eskamani (D-Orlando) of Florida says that wealthier communities are already seeing greater vaccination coverage than low-income neighborhoods.

Click or tap here to learn more about Greenburg’s initiative to help vaccinate the elderly.

New federal efforts may soon improve vaccine delivery, as the Pentagon will send more than 1,100 soldiers to five vaccination centers in what will be the first wave of greater military support for the White House campaign to get more Americans vaccinated against COVID- 19.

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Two of the five new military teams will go to vaccination centers opened in California. Senior Coronavirus advisor Andy Slavitt said military personnel will arrive in these locations in just over a week. Three additional centers are expected to be announced soon.

[READ YESTERDAY’S REPORT: Florida reports 7,000 new COVID-19 cases as counties work to keep vaccine secure]

Cases

The Florida Department of Health reported 10,946 new cases on Friday, bringing the state’s grand total to 1,763,873 cases since the coronavirus pandemic began in March.

Deaths

Florida reported 215 new virus-related deaths on Friday, bringing the death toll to 27,913. This number includes the 456 non-residents who died in Florida.

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Hospitalizations

As of Friday afternoon, there were 5,428 people hospitalized with the virus in Florida, according to the state Health Administration Agency.

Since March, 73,970 people have been hospitalized in Florida after complications from COVID-19. This number includes the 339 new patients who were recently hospitalized for the virus, according to the daily health department report released on Friday.

Positive rate

The percentage of positive results was 5.8% for the 188,606 exams reported to the state. Health officials say the rate should remain between 5% and 10% to prove that a community contains the virus and is reducing infections.

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Vaccinations

The Florida Department of Health recently started releasing a daily report on COVID-19 vaccines administered across the state.

As of Friday afternoon, 1,894,209 people had been vaccinated in Florida. The FDOH also reports that 554,502 people received their second chance.

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

County	Cases	New cases	Hospitalizations	New hospitalizations	Deaths	New deaths
Brevard	30,459	306	1,840	7	666	3
Flagler	5,447	42	303	two	73	0
Lake	22,500	189	1,170	11	459	6
Marion	25,221	218	1,590	18	649	7
orange	105,725	736	2,243	11	1,001	11
Osceola	34,315	216	1,211	4	384	-1
Polk	52,029	399	4,013	16	1,008	17
Seminole	24,764	129	1,057	5	386	1
Sumter	7,323	42	441	two	206	19
Volusia	31,863	187	1,557	10	542	1

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