click to enlarge Photo via the Villages/Facebook

Florida’s largest retirement community The Villages witnessed a sizable spike in coronavirus cases this week.According to the Florida Department of Health, Lake and Sumter counties, where the Villages is located, now have a combined 226 confirmed cases of coronavirus, up from 200 confirmed cases on Tuesday.Overall, 12 of these new cases are located in The Villages, which now has 64 infected residents.The University of Florida is currently conducting field tests in the retirement community, which is home to over 125,000 residents who are mostly over 65 years old.So far, UF Health has conducted roughly 2,280 tests, and has also confirmed the presence of community spread.Nine people have died from COVID-19 in Sumter and Marion counties, with the most recent coronavirus-related death occurring last Thursday, involving a resident of The Village of Winifred.In response to the coronavirus pandemic, The Villages has since limited golf hours, closed public swimming pools and even shuttered pickleball courts.All told, Florida currently has 15,456 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 309 deaths, as of Wednesday afternoon.