Florida Breaks Record with over 21,000 New COVID Cases
upstart writes:
Florida breaks record with more than 21,000 new COVID cases:
Florida reported 21,683 new cases of COVID-19, the state's highest one-day total since the start of the pandemic, according to federal health data released Saturday, as its theme park resorts again started asking visitors to wear masks indoors.
The state has become the new national epicenter for the virus, accounting for around a fifth of all new cases in the U.S. as the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus continues to spread.
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has resisted mandatory mask mandates and vaccine requirements, and along with the state Legislature, has limited local officials' ability to impose restrictions meant to stop the spread of COVID-19. DeSantis on Friday barred school districts from requiring students to wear masks when classes resume next month.
The latest numbers were recorded on Friday and released on Saturday on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website. The figures show how quickly the number of cases is rising in the Sunshine State: only a day earlier, Florida reported 17,093 new daily cases. The previous peak in Florida had been 19,334 cases reported on Jan. 7, before the availability of vaccinations became widespread.
The state reported 409 deaths this week, bringing the total to more than 39,000 since its first in March 2020. The state's peak happened in mid-August 2020, when 1,266 people died over a seven-day period. Deaths usually follow increases in hospitalizations by a few weeks.
Florida breaks record for new coronavirus cases as surge of infections rips through state:
At Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, all of the beds at its covid-only intensive care unit are filled with unvaccinated patients. Ademola Ayo Akinkunmi, director of patient care services for Jackson Health System, told the Miami Herald that the rise of the delta variant in an area where vaccination rates are low has left doctors scrambling to find more space to deal with the uptick in covid patients.
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