July has seen a dramatic rise in confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Oakland Park compared to the previous two months with 587 new cases so far this month, compared to 159 in total for May and June.
As of Tuesday, according to the Florida Department of Health, the total number of cases in Oakland Park now stands at 829, up from 694 a week ago — a 19% increase. That’s a sharp decline from two weeks ago when the cases rose 33% and the week before that 52%.
At the end of May new weekly cases in Oakland Park had slowed to a trickle. In May there were 30 new cases. In June, 129.
“It has been reported that approximately 80% of new cases are family or household related,” Oakland Park City Commissioner Tim Lonergan previously told SFGN. “Kids and young adults are socializing with their friends and bringing the virus home and infecting other members of the household.”
The total cases in Oakland Park come to about 1.8% of the population. Next door in Wilton Manors it’s also about 1.8%. For comparison the percentage of positive tests in Florida amounts to 2% of the population.
The Mayor of Oakland Park, Matthew Sparks noted last week that the positivity rate has also been increasing since early June – from 2% on June 2 to 22% on July 22.
"So clearly we have a problem," Sparks previously told SFGN. Sparks reiterates everyone needs to mask up in order to get the virus under control.
As Broward County and the rest of the state has reopened, Florida has set multiple records for the number of daily coronavirus cases in the last 30 days. South Florida has paused much of its reopening plans while Broward County has implemented a nightly curfew and new restrictions have been placed on certain businesses.
According to FDOH as of Tuesday, 51,657 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Broward County — that’s more than 3 times the number from 30 days ago. So far 607 have died in the county.
In Fort Lauderdale there have been 11,758 cases, up from 3,182, 30 days ago.
There are 436,867 confirmed cases in Florida, more than 4.4 million in the U.S., and globally more than 16.7 million. So far there have been 6,117 deaths in Florida, 151,000 in the U.S. and globally more than 660,000. More than 900 Floridians have died in the last week.
For more local information Lonergan pointed to the Oakland Park Coronavirus Call Center Hotline the city set up at the beginning of the pandemic. It’s available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. “to answer questions and redirect residents to the resources they may find helpful.” He also directed residents to this webpage on the city’s website for “a wealth of knowledge, resources and links related to the pandemic.”
Last month the City launched a campaign to encourage residents to shop local with the “Find it in Oakland Park” campaign. Find more information here.
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