Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings issued an executive order on Thursday ordering the public to wear a face mask in public places as the number of coronavirus cases saw a spike locally and statewide.
His order will take effect at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. During a news conference, he said that the order will also apply to the residents within the city of Orlando as well as to those visiting Orange County.
Demings said, “The virus is not done with us.” According to Demings, the number of coronavirus cases saw a staggering spike and there is a subsequent increase in hospitalizations.
Health Department Director Raul Pino said, “the average age of positive cases is 29 as 42 percent of the deadly virus cases were seen in the people of ages 20-29.”
Mayor Demings said, “If the trend continues, where we continue to see increases, triple numbers, on a day-to-day basis if we see a significant increase in the number of people in our hospitals that will trigger something else.” Demings made clear that there are no fines imposed on not using face masks as the aim is “to gain voluntary compliance.”
In the order issued by Demings it is written that with the significant reopening of its economic, cultural and civic life, bringing more people into contact with each other, Orange County has experienced an increase in the daily positivity rate of infections for COVID-19 and recently the number of COVID -19 cases has increased significantly with daily positivity rates for COVID-19 as high as 11 percent.
In the order, it is also mentioned that Orange County health care providers have experienced an increase in emergency room visits and hospitalizations related to COVID-19. The Center for Disease Prevention and Control recommends wearing face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain.
The ongoing health crisis coronavirus is a serious concern for all the countries in the world. Social distancing, Increased testing, and face mask is for now considered to be the only weapons to fight the deadly virus. Orange County has a total of 7,614 confirmed cases, 4,414 recovered cases, and 185 deaths
