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The Villages
Thursday, March 28, 2024

COVID-19 claims 3 Lake County residents as virus hits The Villages again

Three more Lake County residents have succumbed to the Coronavirus as new cases of the potentially deadly illness were reported Thursday in The Villages, Summerfield and Fruitland Park.

The latest Lake County victims were identified as a 103-year-old woman, a 55-year-old woman with no recent travel history and a 74-year-old man who also hadn’t traveled recently. The 103-year-old woman, who tested positive on June 11, was the oldest patient in the tri-county area known to have contracted the virus.

No specific information was released Thursday about the newest patient in the Sumter County portion of The Villages. But she appears to be a 77-year-old woman with an unknown travel history, according to statistics released Thursday by the Florida Department of Health.

A total of 84 cases have now been reported in The Villages. The overwhelming majority of those – 72 – are in the Sumter County portion of the mega-retirement community. Ten cases are in the Lake County section and two have been reported in the Marion County portion of the sprawling retirement mecca.

Summerfield is now reporting 38 cases of COVID-19. The latest patients in the community just outside the confines of The Villages have been identified as an 82-year-old woman and three men ages 22, 57 and 58. It’s unclear if any of those patients live in the retirement communities of Del Webb Spruce Creek, Stonecrest or Spruce Creek South, as that specific information isn’t released by the Florida Department of Health. It’s also unclear if any of the new patients were identified Wednesday when more than 400 people were tested at a drive-thru site in Stonecrest.

No information was available on the new case in Fruitland Park, which brings the total in that community to seven. But some of the latest Lake County patients have been identified as five men ages 27, 27, 36, 51 and 64; and three women ages 24, 45 and 53.

As of Thursday, the tri-county area was reporting 1,198 cases – an increase of 46 in a 24-hour period – among 667 men, 507 women, 22 non-residents and two people listed as unknown. There have been 44 deaths and 178 people have been hospitalized.

Lake County continues to lead the way in the tri-county area with 583 COVID-19 cases – an increase of 31 from Wednesday to Thursday – among 329 men, 238 women, 15 non-residents and one person listed as unknown. There have been 19 deaths and 87 people have been treated in area hospitals.

Clermont continues to pace Lake County with 141 cases. Other cities reporting cases include Tavares (127, 100 of which are at the Lake County Jail), Leesburg (59), Eustis (70), Mount Dora (34), Groveland (25), Sorrento (15), Mascotte (14), Minneola (11), Umatilla (9), Montverde (5), Howey-in-the-Hills (3), Altoona (2), Okahumpka (1), Grand Island (2), Astatula (1), Astor (1), Paisley (1) and Yalaha (1).

Sumter County is now reporting 270 cases among 189 men, 79 women and two non-residents. There have been 17 deaths and 45 people have been hospitalized.
The majority of Sumter County cases – 122 – have been reported in Bushnell, with all but one of those being at the Sumter Correctional Institution (105 inmates and 16 staff members). Other cases have been identified in Lake Panasoffkee (22), Oxford (19), Wildwood (9), Webster (8), Lady Lake portion of the county (6), Sumterville (5), Coleman (4) and Center Hill (1). The federal prison in Coleman also has identified four cases among three staff members and one inmate.

Marion County is reporting 345 cases – an increase of 14 in 24 hours. Those are comprised of 149 men, 190 women, five non-residents and one person listed as unknown. There have been eight deaths and 46 people have required some form of hospital care.

The overwhelming majority of Marion County cases – 230 – have been reported in Belleview (17), Dunnellon (15), Citra (11), Ocklawaha (7), Silver Springs (5), Anthony (3), Reddick (2), Weirsdale (1) and Fort McCoy (1).

All told, Florida is reporting 85,926 COVID-19 cases – an increase of 3,207 in a 24-hour period. Of those, 83,854 are residents. There have been 3,061 deaths and 12,577 people have been hospitalized across the Sunshine State.

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