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Central Florida sees rise in COVID-19 variant cases, hospitalizations

ORLANDO, Fla. — Central Florida and the rest of the state continue to see cases of the COVID-19 delta variant rise at a fast pace.

The Florida Department of Health isn’t doing daily case updates anymore, but there have been weekly case increases.

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Data shows variant cases are skyrocketing in Central Florida.

From July 16 to July 22, there were over 5,000 cases in Orange County.

In the previous week, July 9 to July 15, there were over 3,000 cases in Orange County.

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The positivity rate in Orange County also went up during that period.

There has been an increase in both the number of cases and the positivity rate for every Central Florida county during the same time.

One week ago, the emergency management director in Seminole County said hospitals could handle the cases and weren’t overrun yet, but he did have concerns about the direction we were headed in.

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“In Central Florida, at Florida Hospital where I have privileges, and at Celebration Hospital, I’m seeing numbers are going up at both hospitals,” said Dr. Aftab Khan. “Things are changing quite rapidly.”

See more in the video above.

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