COVID-19 cases among local juveniles has increased significantly in the past several days.

As of Saturday, there are 374 cases in the local area involving children under the age of 18, according to statistics provided by the Florida Department of Health. On July 12, the tri-county area was reporting 239 cases and on June 26, that number stood at 78 cases.

That current number represents about 6 percent of the COVID-19 cases reported in Sumter, Lake and Marion counties. But it also shows an increase of 135 juvenile patients in six days and 296 cases in a little less than two weeks’ time.

So far, 223 minors in Lake County have tested positive, while 128 have been identified in Marion County and 23 have been reported in Sumter County. A total of 4,921 juveniles have been tested in the tri-county area – 2,780 in Lake County, 1,835 in Marion County and 306 in Sumter County.

Across Florida, there have been 23,170 positive results among the 173,520 minors who have been tested. That amounts to a positivity rate of 13.4 percent across the state, which compares to 7.6 percent locally.

There have been four deaths among children in the Sunshine State. Two each were in the 10-14 and 15-17 age brackets. Also, 246 minors have been hospitalized with the deadly virus.

The breakdown by age of those minors reported with COVID-19 across Florida is:

  • Under 1 years old – 1,412 cases (6 percent);
  • 1-4 years old – 3,731 cases (16 percent);
  • 5-9 years old – 5,000 cases (22 percent);
  • 10-14 years old – 6,254 cases (27 percent); and
  • 15-17 years old – 6,773 cases (29 percent).