Recent COVID-19 outbreaks in Orange County linked to workplace break rooms, health officials say

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Two areas in Orange County have seen outbreaks of COVID-19 in recent days, leading to an uptick in the number of cases in the county.

Orange County Health Officer Dr. Raul Pino said the health department is cautious of the outbreaks, but he is not yet concerned over the increase.

“(COVID-19) still has not been truly controlled,” Pino said. “(The number of cases) goes up and down, and that’s what we have to be careful with.”

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The two areas of the latest outbreaks were in ZIP codes 32703 in the Apopka area and 32824, which is just south and west of the airport.

Pino said a few of the cases have been able to trace back to break rooms within workplaces.

He said the issues caused the county health department to call attention to the issue with break rooms for all employers.

But as we approach our fourth week of reopening, Pino said there's been really no "significant" changes to COVID-19 trends.

He said the positivity rate continues to decline as does the hospitalization rate for the most part.

"You can see that from a high of 100 in the middle of April, we've really come down nicely,” said Dr. Vincent Hsu, with AdventHealth. “And we're here at pretty much the lowest level we've seen since the decline."

AdventHealth has 26 cases in all of its hospital branches. And Orlando Health was at its lowest point last week with just five cases, but over the weekend, the number gradually rose up to 19.

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"The numbers are still low though, and if you look at the trend overall, the trend overall is still moving in the way that we would hope,” said Dr. George Ralls, with Orlando Health.

Overall, Hsu said the trends are looking very positive.

“It’s just now a matter of seeing what’s going to happen in the next few weeks moving ahead as we reopen,” Hsu said.

Video: Two new deaths reported in Orange County as case numbers remain 'unstable' Orange County officials provided the latest COVID-19 updates in a news conference on Thursday.

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