SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — Coronavirus cases and hospitalizations have dropped in Seminole County, and health leaders are pointing to the mask mandate and other precautions taken over the past couple months.    

About 75 people are hospitalized with the virus in Seminole County, which health leaders said is down about a third. 

At one point, Seminole’s new cases were hovering around 200 per day, but they have dived to fewer than 50 per day recently, health officials said.  

The owner of Jeanine Taylor Folk Art in Sanford said she has seen a lot more people wearing face coverings over the past couple months.   

When she opened in May after the coronavirus shutdown, there was no question she would require artists, employees and customers to wear a face covering — but some refused.       

“As soon as we asked them to wear one, they either left or they put on a mask,” owner Jeanine Taylor said. 

In late June, as cases began to spike, Seminole County leaders instituted a face-covering mandate.

“It helped a lot,” Taylor said. “More people were wearing masks, just on the sidewalks.” 

And now, Seminole County’s coronavirus numbers are on their way down.   

Seminole County Medical Director Dr. Todd Husty said they are seeing a downward trend.

“How many new cases per day?” Husty said. “That’s way, way down.

“It’s not a secret as to what stops this virus,” Husty said.

Face coverings and social distancing have flattened the curve since the Spanish Flu, more than a century ago, he said.

Now is not the time to ease up on restrictions, though, Husty warned.

“Just do the stuff that keeps us from spreading it between each other, and it will go away, but don’t let your guard down yet,” Husty said. 

One number that is not going down in Seminole County is deaths related to the coronavirus — more than 150 people have died.   

Husty said that number lags the others by about three to four weeks. Health officials said they expect that number to drop soon, too.