Name: Why didn’t tourist capital Orlando have more coronavirus cases?
Brand: orlandosentinel.com
SKU: orlandosentinel-com-34
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Why didn’t tourist capital Orlando have more coronavirus cases?

preview

AdvertisementBy Orlando SentinelMay 08, 2020 at 6:39 pmOrlando had all the makings to become a coronavirus hot spot.Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando attract millions of people from across the globe to make the city the nation’s most visited. The city’s international airport is among the nation’s busiest.AdvertisementAnd hundreds of thousands of employees at theme parks, hotels, shops and restaurants spend their work days in close contact with travelers and then return to their homes in suburbs sprawled across Central Florida, potentially transmitting the contagion throughout their communities.Today, more than nine weeks since the first show canceled at the Orange County Convention Center because of the then-building pandemic, Orange County is better off than every other major population center in Florida, according to health metrics tracked by the state.Advertisement“Part of it may just be luck,” said Dr. Vincent Hsu, an epidemiologist and executive director of infection control at AdventHealth, Orlando’s largest hospital system.But Hsu and other experts said there are also distinct factors that likely worked in Central Florida’s favor, such as an early decision by Disney and Universal to close their parks on March 15. In addition, Orange and neighboring Osceola and Seminole counties acted before Gov. Ron DeSantis with their own stay-at-home or social distancing orders.And people in metro Orlando largely live in spread-out subdivisions and travel by car compared with the harder-hit New York or Miami, cities that are more densely populated.DeSantis held up Orange County as a success when he visited last week.“One of the great stories is a community that has more traffic coming into it from everywhere in the world and the United States," the governor said. "There’s no way you can have a pathogen circulating anywhere and it not end up in Central Florida.”Disney and Universal, which together employ some 100,000 people, shut down their parks nearly two weeks before a stay-at-home order by Orange Mayor Jerry Demings went into effect at 11 p.m. on March 26. It was quickly followed by a similar order in Osceola County and social-distancing orders in Seminole and Lake counties. DeSantis’ statewide stay-at-home order did not begin until April.The theme parks remain closed, though the dining and shopping complex known as Disney Springs will begin to reopen on May 20.The unprecedented park closings likely played a role in curbing the spread of the virus not just because employees and would-be travelers were forced to stay home, but because the image of an empty Disney World conveyed just how seriously people should heed warnings about the pandemic.Advertisement“I think the blessing you have in Orange County is that your major employers were extremely responsible in shutting down,”said Dr. Gregory Poland, an infectious disease specialist at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, of the theme parks.While cases now appear to be trending down across Florida, Orange is showing a lower percent of virus tests coming back positive than Hillsborough County, which also has a population of about 1.3 million on the western end of the I-4 corridor. In Orange, 1.79% of tests were positive for the week of May 2, the most recent figure available from the state, while the figure in Hillsborough was 4.12%.Orange is also showing fewer emergency room visits with flu-like symptoms as well as COVID-19 symptoms and fewer new confirmed cases than Hillsborough.But there is evidence that in some smaller counties surrounding Orange, where some low-wage service industry and tourism workers tend to live because of cheaper housing, certain health metrics remain higher.The percent of tests coming back positive in neighboring Osceola, home to part of Disney’s vast land holdings, was at 3.07% for the week of May 2, though emergency room visits in that county for flu or COVID-19 symptoms are far lower than in Orange.In Polk County, which borders Osceola as well as a sliver of Orange, the percent of positive tests was 5.87% for the week of May 2. Polk, which has less than half the population of Orange, reported nearly as many new cases of the virus for that week — 112 versus 119 in Orange.AdvertisementAnd while infections soared in Broward, Miami Dade and Palm Beach counties in March and April, hospitals in Orange County and across Central Florida managed to avoid becoming overwhelmed and had ICU beds and ventilators to spare.More than 900 people in the three South Florida counties have died from COVID-19, according to the Florida Department of Health’s tracking . Those three counties are home to about 6 million people.Comparatively, Brevard, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia counties have a little more than half that population, or about 3.5 million people, but just 104 deaths as of Thursday.Some experts say Florida had more time to prepare for the virus that invaded the nation’s West Coast and New York before the Sunshine State. And images of devastation were starting to be broadcast from Italy as preparations were underway in Florida.“I think many residents of this area were able to read the tea leaves,” Hsu said of the novel virus’ deadly potential.Even before the theme parks closed, dozens of shows started to cancel at the convention center. Among the losses were gigantic annual conventions like Mega-Con Orlando and the Health Information Management Systems Society convention, which was expected to draw 45,000 attendees and feature an address by President Trump.AdvertisementWhile conventions stopped here, Spring Breakers partied on South Florida beaches.The density of those major cities near the beach in Florida compared with Orlando could also have played a role.Miami, for example, has 13,082 people per square mile, five times more than Orlando, which has 2,594 people per square mile, according to the U.S. Census.That matters because the virus is transmitted through droplets in coughs, sneezes and other fluids. And the more crowded an area, said Dr. Cindy Prins, an epidemiologist at the University of Florida, the more transmission that can occur.Just going to a crowded grocery market raises the risk of infection, Prins said.“Even if you’re only out to get your essentials, you’re still going to have many more opportunities to encounter the virus,” she said of a more densely populated region.AdvertisementDr. Raul Pino, director of the state Health Department in Orange County, said medical experts are still learning about the new coronavirus and new science could eventually explain how Orange County has so far weathered the pandemic better than other urban counties across Florida.For instance, he said, Orange might have benefited from its relative youth compared with an older population in South Florida, where nursing home deaths account for a larger percentage of the death toll.Dr. George Ralls, chief quality officer for Orlando Health, cited some other potential reasons why the Orlando area has fared better than other areas.He said local leaders promoted what he called “engineering controls” or measures to reduce virus exposure such as social-distancing and masks, and residents and businesses appeared to mostly put those into practice by staying home as much as possible, wearing masks and remaining 6 feet apart when in public areas.WeeklyA weekly update on health news in Florida. &gt; “Central Florida is definitely a much rosier scenario than you see in South Florida,” Ralls said.He said the region’s reliance on cars, typically a drawback when talking about pollution or commute times, was in this case likely a lifesaver for some.Advertisement“I also think the way we move here, the way we commute is a contributing factor as well,” he said. “You really can’t get away from folks if you’re on the subway.”But Ralls added words of caution with his praise for the region.“Yes, Central Florida has fared well,” he said. “But that being said, we’re not past this. It’s going to be with us for a while. ... People have to keep being responsible.”Data specialist Adelaide Chen contributed to this report. To contact Stephen Hudak, call 407-650-6361 or email shudak@orlandosentinel.com; rgillespie@orlandosentinel.com Advertisement

AdvertisementBy Orlando SentinelMay 08, 2020 at 6:39 pmOrlando had all the makings to become a coronavirus hot spot.Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando attract millions of people from across the globe to make the city the nation’s most visited. The city’s international airport is among the nation’s busiest.AdvertisementAnd hundreds of thousands of employees at theme parks, hotels, shops and restaurants spend their work days in close contact with travelers and then return to their homes in suburbs sprawled across Central Florida, potentially transmitting the contagion throughout their...

Why didn’t tourist capital Orlando have more coronavirus cases?

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS