ORLANDO, Fla. – COVID-19 deaths in Orange County continue to rise with the toll from the pandemic in August now topping 70 fatalities, surpassing July’s total of 58.
Nineteen additional deaths, including five vaccinated people, were reported since Monday.
Raul Pino, state health officer in Orange County, said the deaths of vaccinated people should not be viewed as evidence the shots don’t work.
“They are effective. They do work,” he said. “But the reality is that vaccines are not and will never be 100% effective.”
Most of the deaths in the latest surge are likely fueled by the delta variant, Pino said.
Of the latest deaths, three victims had been residents of Orange County assisted living facilities.
Age and other medical conditions could be factors, he said.
The rising death toll complicates a morgue-capacity problem reported Thursday throughout AdventHealth’s Central Florida Division. AdventHealth attributed the issue to backups at local funeral homes. Funeral homes across Florida say they are overwhelmed with bodies.
“We are working to try to understand how we may be able to offer some relief in that regard,” Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings told reporters Thursday at a briefing. “It may require a request to the state for additional portable refrigeration units to be deployed. We’re just doing an assessment at this point to determine how critical that need is and so we don’t have a final answer today but we’re working through it.”
Health leaders say COVID-19 has caused 1,499 deaths among Orange County residents since the pandemic began in March 2020.
Deaths peaked in January with 229 and fell sharply in February when the vaccine became widely available. They continued to drop monthly until July when the delta variant began spreading.
The mayor also said he plans to ask county commissioners next month to approve incentives to persuade county employees to get vaccinated.
Non-union workers who are fully vaccinated or who get their first dose by August 31 will get a $250 bonus and a paid day of personal leave.
Union and non-union workers who get a shot after that date but before Halloween will get a paid day of personal leave.
“The focus is on saving lives,” Demings said of the incentives.
He also defended his order directing employees to get vaccinated, though some firefighters and others staged public protests Tuesday.
First-responders don’t get to choose whether they respond to a call for help, said the mayor, formerly county sheriff and Orlando police chief.
“That is their job,” he said.
Demings said four county employees already have died of COVID-19, including one of the latest casualties.
“I have other employees who are hospitalized in critical care units and, in some cases, the prognosis for them is not good either,” he said.
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