Associated Press
A day after it recorded the most new daily cases since the start of the pandemic, Florida on Sunday broke a previous record for current hospitalizations, as the number of patients in hospitals because of COVID-19 once again broke through the 10,000-person threshold.
The Sunshine State had 10,207 people hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19 cases, according to data reported to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
The previous record was from more than a year ago, July 23, 2020, more than a half-year before vaccinations started becoming widespread, when Florida had 10,170 hospitalizations, according to the Florida Hospital Association.
Florida is now leading the nation in per capita hospitalizations for COVID-19, as hospitals around the state report having to put emergency room visitors in beds in hallways and others document a noticeable drop in the age of patients.
In the past week, Florida has averaged 1,525 adult hospitalizations a day, and 35 daily pediatric hospitalizations. Both are the highest per capita rate in the nation, according to Jason Salemi, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of South Florida.
The hospitalizations and increasing cases have come as the new, more transmittable delta variant has spread throughout Florida, and residents have returned to pre-pandemic activities.
Federal health data released Saturday showed that Florida reported 21,683 new cases of COVID-19, the state’s highest one-day total since the start of the pandemic. 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.
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.
There has been a startling rise in the number of children with the virus at hospitals in Miami, many of them requiring intensive care.
Memorial Health’s Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood had seven patients with COVID-19. At Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami, there were 17 patients with COVID-19 on Friday, including six in the ICU and one who needed a ventilator, Dr. Marcos Mestre, vice president and chief medical officer, told the Miami Herald.
About half of the patients were under 12, Mestre said, and the rest were older and eligible for the vaccine. But none of the patients with COVID-19 at Nicklaus Children’s on Friday were vaccinated. Most children who get COVID-19 do not need hospitalization, Mestre said.
At the UF Health North hospital emergency room in Jacksonville, COVID-19 patients once again were being put in beds in hallways due to a surge in visits. Mayo Clinic is in surge mode, over capacity, also.
For many hospital workers, up until a month ago, it looked like there was light at the end of the tunnel, as people got vaccinated and hospitalizations decreased. But then the summer surge, powered by the new delta variant, hit Florida in July.
___
Published with permission of the Associated Press.
7 comments
Andrew Finn
August 1, 2021 at 3:46 pm
Not to worry. The Emperor DeSantis is going to issue another executive edict forbidding people to die from the virus. Simple. Problem solved.
Ed
August 1, 2021 at 7:53 pm
Let me guess the Agriculture Commissioner will tell everyone to smoke more weed.
Tjb
August 2, 2021 at 10:32 am
Sounds like a comment from an old alcoholic? It must be 5:30 some where.
MaRia Rogers
August 1, 2021 at 8:20 pm
Charlie for Governor – Restore Florida’s integrity and viability.
Ed
August 1, 2021 at 9:02 pm
Close Disney
Close Universal / IOA
Close the airports
Keep the tourists out
Close the Florida Keys
Close the beaches of Florida
That’s what you Dems want right?
Andrew Finn
August 1, 2021 at 9:23 pm
Not only the Dems. Let’s see – if the tourists were not here – less traffic, less crowds at restaurants and stores, and not having them bring more virus with them. That would be nice. We don’t depend on one single tourist dollar and therefor don’t have to kiss their butts. Bye-bye and drive home slow, eh !!!!!
Sonja Fitch
August 2, 2021 at 4:33 am
As if a follower of the former president even cares! Facts and the truth Duffus Desantis! Duffus is willingly slaughtering Floridians .
Comments are closed.