Last month saw a dramatic increase in confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Oakland Park with 661 in July — easily outpacing May and June, which in total saw 159 cases.
“July was a difficult and stressful month for hundreds of Oakland Park residents and City employees due to the consistent increase in COVID-19 infections,” said Oakland Park City Commissioner Tim Lonergan. “The daily fatality numbers in Florida and Broward County provide a painful reminder to all of us that this pandemic is far from over.”
As of Monday, according to the Florida Department of Health, the total number of cases in Oakland Park now stands at 939, almost a fourfold increase since July 1.
“While the City of Oakland Park continues to deliver its core services to residents and business owners, the safety and wellbeing of our community and employees remains the first and foremost priority,” Lonergan said. “Only with a consistent and disciplined approach will we be able to put this pandemic behind us. We will remain in this temporary new normal, for the long term, until everyone takes this pandemic seriously. We understand people get restless and are eager to resume their past activities.”
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.
The total cases in Oakland Park come to about 2% of the population. Next door in Wilton Manors it’s also about 1.9%. For comparison the percentage of positive tests in Florida amounts to 2.3% of the population.
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 Monday, 58,531 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Broward County — that’s more than 3 times the number since July 1. So far 748 have died in the county — 588 since July 1.
In Fort Lauderdale there have been 13,129 cases, up from 3,502 on July 1. Next door, Wilton Manors is up to 248.
There are 491,884 confirmed cases in Florida, more than 4.8 million in the U.S., and globally more than 18.3 million. So far there have been 7,157 deaths in Florida, 158,000 in the U.S. and globally more than 695,000. More than 3,600 Floridians have died since July 1 – that’s more than the number of people who died before July 1.
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