ORLANDO, Fla. — The number of Floridians vaccinated for the coronavirus continues to increase slowly, officials say.

What You Need To Know

  • Vaccinations continue to increase in Florida

  • Nearly 250,000 people were vaccinated in Florida last month, many between the age of 12 and 19

  • Orange County Public Schools has been administering vaccines on campuses

Through the month of July, Orange County was on par with the state when it came to the positivity rate.

The state was at 18.1% while the county was nearly identical at 18.2%.

According to the heath department, as the coronavirus positivity rate increased in July, so did the number of vaccines administered, but the rate at which each increased is nowhere close.

It was the tale of two lines at Barnett Park on Friday.

There was the one 12-year-old Kaya Merrill was in.

“I wish I was in that one because I do want to get vaccinated,” she said from the passenger seat of her mom’s car in the coronavirus testing line. The mother daughter waited nearly two hours for a test.

And then there was the line soon-to-be Florida State University freshman Derek Laine was in.

“Delta virus cases are spiking up again, especially in Florida,” he said, shortly after receiving his vaccine.

In May, Merrill had the coronavirus, but now has to wait four months before she can get a vaccine due to the medications she was on.

“I had a body rash and a fever, and shortness of breath some days,” she said.

Since the spring of this year, Orange County Public Schools has administered roughly 8,600 doses of a vaccine on their campuses. It’s an encouraging number with events likely to continue this fall.

“It’s important to make these available and easily accessible,” OCPS COVID-19 Task Force member Sara Au said. “That is what we are doing to making these available at our schools.”

In the last week of July, nearly 250,000 people were vaccinated in Florida. Those aged 12-19 were the state’s largest group to receive a vaccine with just over 47,000.

Data from the Department of Health show the state’s positivity rate from mid-May through July as well as how many vaccines were administered. They’re important numbers to know as health officials have warned the district about the severity of the delta variant.

“They have told us is that it is it carries a 1,000 times the viral load,” Au said. “It is more than 225 times more transmissible than the alpha COVID.”

Which like the lines at Barnett Park, it’s also the tale of two different variants. Alpha which we saw last year, and now Delta, which health officials say is overtaking hospital beds.

Orange County Schools is set to continue vaccination sites on campus this fall.​