Orange County coronavirus deaths skewing younger

The director of the Orange County public health department says the county is in a good position as more testing is done for coronavirus.

Dr. Raul Pino said that in the last fourteen days, new cases have declined and hospitalizations have dropped too.

But he said there are still some worrying trends.

“The people who are dying are getting a little bit younger. And I have to try to find out what is behind that, what is accounting for that, and compare it to other counties.”

Dr. Pino said the county is also working to target small outbreaks with a mobile lab.

We are going to develop …a mobile unit, very small, which has the capacity of doing about 50 tests

at any time. With that we will have the ability to move into outbreaks in smaller areas,” said Pino.

Orange county’s COVID-19 death toll stands at 33. A 52 year old Clermont police officer is among the victims.

The county has 1,371 cases and 272 hospitalizations. The peak of new cases was on April 1st, when 106 new cases were reported.

Orange County Mayor says reopening will be careful

Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings says reopening business will be done carefully.

Yesterday, Governor Ron DeSantis outlined reopening plans beginning next week, including opening restaurants and retail stores at reduced capacity.

Demings is expected to respond today to the governor’s reopening plan.

“How we reopen Orange County must be done with extreme care,” said Demings.

“The issue with this disease is the explosive way with which it spreads, we do not want to open too quickly without a solid plan in place with countermeasures to keep employees and our residents safe.”

Demings said his goal is to reduce the likelihood of a resurgence of coronavirus.

Copyright 2020 Health News Florida. To see more, visit .