ORLANDO, Fla. — A sharp rise in COVID-19 cases has prompted Orange County to abruptly change course and suggest that all people, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks when in crowded indoor environments.
What You Need To Know
- Mayor Jerry Demings encourages all people — vaccinated or not — to wear masks in crowded indoor environments
- This announcement comes as coronavirus cases have started to rise throughout the state in the past two weeks
- While wearing masks is a strong suggestion, Demings emphasized it is not a mandate
The announcement came late Monday at an Orange County coronavirus news briefing.
Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now considers the county “to be in the high-risk category for community transmission.”
"A pandemic within a pandemic is starting to occur," he said.
In addition to the county's suggestion that everybody wear masks in crowded indoor environments, Demings said, "surely those who are unvaccinated should be wearing masks to protect others."
The recommendations come as the county’s 14-day rolling positivity rate hit 7.8% on Monday, almost double that of 4.28% two weeks ago.
406 cases of new infections were reported to Florida department of health just yesterday
— Emily Braun (@EmilyBraunTV) July 12, 2021
The action also marks nearly an about-face from early last month when Demings lifted a local state of emergency that aimed to fight the spread of the coronavirus. He said at the time that a new phase of the county’s reopening plan would lift all mask-wearing and physical-distancing requirements in previous emergency executive orders.
That came after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an executive order that eliminated and superseded any local emergency orders that imposed COVID-related restrictions or mandates on businesses or people. DeSantis' order rendered such local-government mandates powerless.
"I am not at the point, at this point, where I want to reinstitute a mandate," Demings said Monday. "This is a strong recommendation at this point. We will continue to monitor these numbers on a daily basis."
Orange County health official Dr. Raul Pino declared at Monday’s news briefing that “things will get really worse before we see a mandate.”
He said the county included 60 cases of the Delta variant, which health officials say is spreading rapidly in the U.S.
"This is the tip of the iceberg," Pino said.
He said he found himself "discouraged" over the number of people who "just will not" get vaccinated.
"I don’t know what needs to be put in front of our residents who haven’t been vaccinated," Pino said. He later added: “This is a moment of truth for our county, but this is an unvaccinated issue. The vaccine is effective, the vaccine is working, the vaccine is everywhere and the vaccine is free. It’s up to you to take it and make that decision.”
Some 60% of Orange County residents age 12 and older have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, county officials say. U.S. health experts have said for months that perhaps 70% to 90% of the population needs to become vaccinated in order to achieve so-called herd immunity and end the pandemic.
100% of cases from yesterday were unvaccinated individuals. 100% of new deaths reported were unvaccinated individuals.
— Emily Braun (@EmilyBraunTV) July 12, 2021
"We have a group of unvaccinated people that’s large enough it could be disruptive," Pino said.
Eight Orange County residents died within the past week from COVID-19, and all were unvaccinated, he said.
"If that’s not an illustration to you at home to get vaccinated and protect yourself and others, what else can be?" Pino said.