ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Orange County could soon see a rise in hospitalizations and coronavirus cases as wastewater sampling is detecting the highest concentration of the virus since mid-May.
County officials shared the announcement Monday during a regularly scheduled coronavirus briefing at Eastern Water Reclamation Facility in Orlando.
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Orange County has been participating in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wastewater surveillance system, a national program that monitors fragments of coronavirus throughout facilities across the country.
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“The reason why we are geographically located here, at the eastern plant today is because this is the area that has the highest concentration,” Mayor Jerry Demings said.
According to Orange County Utilities, the plant is one of three sites within the county and serves more than 280,000 residents. The three plants serve 870,000 of Orange County’s 1.4 million residents.
Ed Torres, the utilities department director, shed light on how alarming the sampling numbers are, adding crews have been detecting higher concentrations of the virus than when he first started epidemiology wastewater work in April 2020. Torres said it is a sign of what’s to come.
“Although the results fluctuate, the concentrations of the virus RNA that we’re seeing and that we measured show an overall increasing trend in our service areas,” he said. “Again, the results of the virus RNA that we measure in the wastewater indicate that we will see continued clinical cases and hospitalizations this week, even beyond what was reported this weekend.”
During the briefing, Dr. Raul Pino, with the Florida Department of Health, said the county has tallied in 188,724 total cases. Officials recorded 1,020 new cases on Sunday and 28 total deaths in August alone.
Torres emphasized that trends often materialize in the coming weeks, adding it takes four to 10 days to see the predictions come into fruition. The director said trends could seem to overcompensate as wastewater sampling could also detect asymptomatic cases.
“The hospitals and medical providers are seeing only the symptomatic patients,” he said about potentially conflicting data. “What we measure in the wastewater are fragments of the virus that are non-contagious, nonviable, but that provide us with an advanced warning.”
Sampling has also seen a sharp increase in the presence of the delta variant, according to Torres. He said the variant’s trends have had the sharpest increase since May.
Demings said these trends are important because it helps coordinate county efforts to get testing sites in areas where there are higher concentrations of the virus. His strategy is to then loop in local commissioners and work on efforts to keep virus cases down.
“So what we try to then do is ensure that any messaging to respective communities can be a focus in a particular area,” Demings said.
The latest weekly report from the FDOH said Orange County tallied in 9,598 new cases since Aug. 6. Approximately 66% of residents 12 and older are vaccinated, according to state data.