Local COVID Update: Lake Sees Record Cases, Schools See Jump, Hospitalizations Below Last Summer

    Lake County’s COVID numbers continued in the wrong direction in the last week, with 6,412 new cases reported for the week ending Friday, January 14. That is an increase over last week’s then-record high of 4,107. Lake County’s positivity rate on those tested for the virus was reported by the Center for Disease Control as 35.32%.
    The CDC also reported 14 deaths during the period, and 209 new hospitalizations. Fatality data can represent deaths from over longer stretches of time, and may not reflect just the week they are reported in. New hospital admissions rose just over 29% from the week previous.
    The data shows Omicron’s deadliness - at least so far - pales to earlier variants of COVID 19, with record cases not resulting in record hospitalizations or deaths. Data from the CDC indicates hospitalizations and ICU bed use are currently around half of what they were late last summer, during the pandemic’s peak here. However, it is unknown if Lake County is at or near the peak of the current surge.
    One big COVID change came this week within Lake County Schools, were nearly half of the county’s 41 schools entered the district’s ‘red’ zone after the previous week showed zero in that area, which tracks schools with over 5% positive testing results. Mount Dora High School (8.85% positive) had the highest rate in data reported last Friday. Other area schools in the red zone included Sorrento Elementary (7.38%), Lake Hills School (6.76%), Eustis Elementary (5.99%), Triangle Elementary (5.61%), Eustis Heights Elementary (5.42%), and Tavares Middle School (5.01%). Treadway Elementary, Umatilla Middle, as well as Umatilla High School were among a group of seven schools that remained in the ‘green’ zone last week, meaning less than 3% of those tested were positive.