‘Basically back to square one’: Cases going up, vaccinations going down in Orange County

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Cases have more than doubled in almost all Central Florida counties, and it’s believed the Delta variant is to blame.

And while cases have gone up, vaccinations have gone down.

“We are basically back to square one,” Central Florida data scientist Eric Solomon said.

READ: Orange County COVID-19 positivity rate on the rise, mayor recommends masks inside crowded places

What Solomon means is last week, the number of shots that went into arms is the same as the first week of the rollout when vaccines were hard to come by and only available to frontline health care workers.

“It’s been a very consistent downward trend in terms of vaccinations,” Solomon said.

Doctors said the unvaccinated are the ones spreading the virus now.

READ: Do you need a COVID-19 vaccine booster? What to know about booster shots

Experts said vaccinations need to ramp back up, and county leaders are working on that.

Cases also need to come down. In Orange County, Mayor Jerry Demings said he is recommending everyone to mask up again indoors.

In the meantime, Solomon will keep crunching the numbers, knowing this very just be the beginning of another surge.

READ: Unemployed IT worker finds ‘workaround’ to Florida’s unemployment system

“You’ve got a pretty rapid increase on your hands,” he said. “I sure hope we handle this.”

Video: Unemployed IT worker finds ‘workaround’ to Florida’s unemployment system Garbage is what unemployed IT professional Joseph Tate said he ran into when filing his unemployment claim. (Christopher Heath, WFTV.com)

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