Young adults see higher infection rates as Florida reports 5,759 new cases of COVID-19

ORLANDO, Florida – As Florida prepares to expand its vaccine eligibility to include all people over the age of 18 on April 5, Orange County is reporting an increase in cases among young adults.

The county’s average age for new infections has been lowered to 30 because of this trend, according to Dr Raul Pino, of the Florida Department of Health in Orange County.

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People between the ages of 18 and 25 are also filling more hospital beds after being infected with the virus. Orange County reported Thursday that people aged 45 and under accounted for one-third of hospitalizations related to COVID-19.

As this younger segment of the population await vaccine eligibility, the COVID-19 rapid test site in Barnett Park has been granted another extension that will allow it to remain open until the end of April.

Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said Thursday the site was supposed to shut down on March 31, but realized demand for testing was still strong.

The site is open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and offers rapid viral and PCR testing.

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Recently, around 800 to 1,000 tests have been done every day.

At the same time, doctors in central Florida are warning people about re-infections with COVID-19.

AdventHealth Centra Care medical director Dr Tim Hendrix attended the hospital’s morning briefing on Thursday and said if you have COVID-19 and recover you can still be re-infected.

“We are seeing people re-infected with COVID-19. People who were infected in the fall, we see about five to seven cases per week at Centra Care of people coming in, ”said Hendrix.

Hendrix said the immunity you gain after recovering from the coronavirus is not enough to completely protect you against further infection.

“You have some immunity, but it’s not necessarily perfect from a natural infection, so you shouldn’t rely on a natural infection,” Hendrix said.

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News 6 asked the Florida Department of Health if they were tracking re-infections and we had no response.

[READ YESTERDAY’S REPORT: DeSantis announces vaccine eligibility expansion as Florida reports 5,803 new COVID-19 cases ]

Find the state-run COVID-19 dashboard below:

Case

The Florida Department of Health reported 5,759 new cases on Friday, bringing the state’s overall total to 2,033,179 cases since the virus was detected on March 1, 2020.

Death

Florida reported 167 new virus-related deaths on Friday, bringing the death toll to 33,756. This issue includes the 640 non-residents died in Florida.

Hospitalizations

Friday afternoon, there was currently 2,863 people infected with the virus have been hospitalized in Florida, according to the National Agency for Health Care Administration.

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Since last March, 84,406 people have been hospitalized in Florida after complications from COVID-19. This number includes the 203 New of patients recently hospitalized with the virus, according to the health department’s daily report released on Friday.

Positivity rate

The percentage of positive results was 5.69% Thursday out of 101,236 tests. The figures reported daily by the state reflect the results of the previous day’s tests. 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 began publishing a daily report in December on COVID-19 vaccines being administered statewide.

FDOH Reports 3,004,403 people are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. These people either received the Johnson & Johnson single dose vaccine or completed a series of two injections.

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Starting on Friday, 5,475,209 people have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine.

Below is the county-by-county breakdown of new cases as of Friday.

To keep up to date with the latest news on the pandemic, subscribe to News 6 coronavirus newsletter and go to ClickOrlando.com/coronavirus.