[Northwoods]

I am a patient of The Villages Health. Their Chief Medical Officer just sent a message to all patients updating them about COVID-19. The letter is longer than the segment below, but I wanted to share some interesting statistics about local hospitalizations. I have not seen specific local hospitalization numbers anywhere.

Cases of COVID-19 are increasing in Florida and locally. Today, there are 549 cases in Sumter County, with 162 occurring in the last week. In Lake County, there are 2,158 cases with 674 occurring in the last week. In Marion County, there are 1,156 cases with 379 occurring in the last week. As of this morning, there are 15 patients in the UF The Villages Hospital and 36 in UF Leesburg Hospital.16 of these patients are in intensive care.

The upward trend is accelerating and the number of known cases among 15- to 35-year-olds is surpassing those of adults aged 55 and older. While younger individuals are typically more able to tolerate and survive the infection, older individuals are at higher risk for more serious outcomes related to this infection.