ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Florida health officials reported more than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday, bringing the state’s total to exactly 66,000.
Officials in Orange County said the rise in local cases is due to more testing, even though lines have slowed down at testing sites.
County officials have used a different approach to identifying cases as the weeks progressed. The county first started with a testing site on Alafaya Trail for appointments only. It then introduced a mobile testing site. Next, the county identified the hardest hit areas and testing sites.
Officials within the county are now using a strike against the virus.
According to the latest numbers, COVID-19 cases have been slowly on the rise in Orange County. Officials attribute that to the number of tests they are doing and being proactive.
In addition to going out into the community and testing people in the areas with the highest number of cases, they are now moving in tactical units called strike teams to large outbreaks.
Read: Orange County sees slight uptick in COVID-19 cases
“We are not sitting on our hands," said Dr. Raul Pino. "We are going after the places we think we can find the most cases. Because the more we find, the more we are likely to prevent.”
Pino now believes people who are asymptomatic could be more of a contributing factor than first thought.
The idea is to stop those without symptoms - before they freely spread the virus.
Strike teams are making their way to all assisted living facilities to assist in testing.
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