The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Polk County rose on Tuesday to 199, up 19 from the previous day. The count includes 53 people in Lakeland, which recently passed Davenport and Winter Haven as the Polk city with the most cases. The Lakeland ZIP code with the most cases is 33805, the midtown area south of I-4, where 10 cases are reported.

Florida Department of Health’s evening report Tuesday shows that 3,017 people have been tested in Polk, up sharply from 2,643 the day before. In addition to the 199 positive readings:

  • 2,800 were negative
  • 2 were inconclusive
  • 17 await results

The number of positive cases is likely 10 times the official number, Polk County Health Department Director Joy Jackson said recently. Those who test positive now probably contracted the disease two to three weeks ago, given the time it takes for symptoms to show and test results to be processed.

In addition, the numbers of people being tested remains tiny compared with Polk County’s estimated population of 708,000 people. A shortage of test kits means only people who meet CDC criteria are being tested.

The number of people hospitalized in Polk rose to 67 on Tuesday, up six from the previous day. There have been four cases reported at nursing homes or other long-term care facilities.

For the first time, a Lakeland ZIP code — 33805, the midtown area south of I-4 — reached the threshold of 10, where exact numbers of cases are reported by the Florida Department of Health. Below that, Zip codes are reported in groupings of 0, 1-4 cases or 5-9 cases.

ZIP code data for Lakeland on Sunday:

10 cases:
33805

5 to 9 cases: 
33801
33803
33809
33810
33813

1 to 4 cases:
33812
33815

No cases:
33811

View an interactive ZIP Code map here or at the end of this article. To find local ZIP code data, click on the “Cases by Zip Code” tab below the map and then scroll to Polk and click.

Current totals reported for Polk cities are:

  • Lakeland, 53
  • Winter Haven, 44
  • Davenport, 40
  • Kissimmee, 17*
  • Lake Wales, 9
  • Auburndale, 6
  • Haines City, 5
  • Fort Meade, 4
  • Mulberry, 4
  • Lake Alfred, 3
  • Bartow, 2
  • Champions Gate, 1
  • Dundee, 1
  • Frostproof, 1
  • Indian Lakes Estates, 1
  • Poinciana, 1
  • Polk City, 1
  • No city named, 4

* While Kissimmee is in Osceola County, the Health Department classifies a portion of east Polk as Kissimmee. It maintains a separate number for the Osceola portion of Kissimmee.

Download a full report for Monday.

Tracking the cases: Polk and Florida

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Polk and Lakeland Hospital beds
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Barry Friedman founded Lkldnow.com in 2015 as the culmination of a career in print and digital journalism. Since 1982, he has used the tools of reporting, editing and content curation to help people in Lakeland understand their community better.

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