Florida reports 17,000 new coronavirus cases, 130 new deaths

ORLANDO, Florida – Coronavirus vaccinations continue throughout the Sunshine State and some counties with little to no notice.

In central Florida, Lake County officials gave less than 20 minutes’ notice before starting to vaccinate residents and non-residents with the COVID-19 vaccine.

The county received 12,600 doses on Tuesday afternoon and made the decision to administer 800 to 1,000 doses on Wednesday morning, making the announcement the same morning.

[Here’s how to register for the COVID-19 vaccine in Florida]

County residents were confused after officials changed the vaccination process to require no appointments and said they were unsure when more doses would be available.

An hour later, Lake County Health Department officials said the Clermont Arts and Recreation Center vaccination site had already reached capacity.

Health officials have said that when it comes to vaccine distribution, they will assess on a day-to-day basis and do not plan to announce the distribution until the day it happens.

Publix is ​​also expected to start providing vaccines this week after Gov. Ron DeSantis announced a pilot program with the supermarket chain, but only in three counties in Florida.

[READ MORE: Lake County gets second shipment of COVID-19 vaccine, begins giving out shots ASAP]

[READ YESTERDAY’S REPORT: Florida reports nearly 15,200 new infections as vaccine roll out continues slow progress]

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Case

Florida Department of Health reported 17,783 new cases Wednesday, bringing the state’s overall total to 1,409,906 case since March.

Death

Florida reported 132 new deaths linked to the virus on Wednesday. That means at least 22,647 people have died from the coronavirus statewide, including 330 non-residents who died in Florida.

[RELATED: By the numbers: Florida COVID-19 deaths by age]

Hospitalizations

As of Wednesday afternoon, there were currently 7,303 people with the virus have been hospitalized in Florida, according to the State Agency for Health Care Administration.

As of March, 64,321 of people have been hospitalized in Florida after complications from the coronavirus. This number includes 439 patients who were recently hospitalized due to the virus, according to the health department’s daily report.

Positivity rate

The percentage of positive results ranged from 8.02% to 23.25% over the past two weeks and was 12.59% on Tuesday.

Health officials say the rate should stay between 5% and 10% to prove that a community has a grip on the virus and is curbing infections.

Vaccinations

The Florida Department of Health recently began publishing a daily report on COVID-19 vaccines administered statewide. As of Wednesday afternoon, 329,060 people had been vaccinated in Florida.

See COVID-19 data for the Central Florida region below:

County	Case	New cases	Hospitalizations	New hospitalizations	Death	New deaths
Brevard	22,669	305	1,483	29	526	1
Flagler	4,079	61	239	6	48	0
Lake	16,897	200	996	seven	331	-5
Marion	19,199	228	1376	21	495	6
Orange	82 155	993	2,006	25	776	13
Osceola	27 113	386	1 103	6	297	2
Polk	40 361	622	3 389	16	814	5
Seminole	19,539	326	925	3	317	0
Sumter	5 634	126	388	3	122	0
Volusia	24,205	414	1,296	3	458	0

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