Orange County

Orange County opening county-employee only COVID-19 testing site

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Orange County leaders say they’re opening up a new COVID-19 testing site for county employees to address the continued rising numbers of COVID-19 infections.

The site is set to open Wednesday morning on Michigan Street. It is only for Orange County employees, and will possibly be expanded to courthouse employees.

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There are also discussions underway of the availability of more private sector testing sites.

So far the county has committed $19.3 million of American Rescue Funds to testing, and $3.7 million to provide all three authorized vaccines.

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“We know that omicron is still very dominant within our wastewater system, which means that it’s likely going to drive the rate of infections and we are seeing a slight uptick in the hospitalizations within Orange County,” Demings said.

As of Tuesday, the county’s 14-day rolling positivity rate is nearly 35%, numbers Mayor Jerry Demings called “staggering.”

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Demings said the hospital admissions aren’t yet at a critical level. As of Tuesday, it’s estimated that 74% of the county’s eligible population has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

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Sarah Wilson

Sarah Wilson, WFTV.com

Sarah Wilson joined WFTV Channel 9 in 2018 as a digital producer after working as an award-winning newspaper reporter for nearly a decade in various communities across Central Florida.

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