Florida Reports 10,207 Covid-19 Hospitalizations, Breaking Previous Record Set in 2020
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Florida reported on Sunday that 10,207 people were hospitalized in the state with Covid-19, breaking a record that was set before the vaccine rollout last July, of 10,170 hospitalizations, according to the Associated Press.
The new figure comes a day after Florida recorded 21,683 new cases of Covid-19 — setting a separate record of most new daily cases since the beginning of the pandemic.
“There is no higher risk area in the United States than we’re seeing here,” Florida International University infectious disease expert Dr. Aileen Marty told CBS Miami on Friday. “The numbers that we’re seeing are unbelievable, just unbelievably frightening.”
The majority of the hospitalizations are among the unvaccinated, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Tampa General Hospital spokesperson Philip Buck told the Tampa Bay Times that 80% of its Covid-19 patients are unvaccinated, and similarly, the spokesperson for Bayfront Health St. Petersburg hospital said 90% of infected patients have not been vaccinated.
According to the New York Times, 58.6% of the adult population in Florida has been fully vaccinated against the virus. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has refused to implement mask or vaccine mandates, despite the rise of the highly contagious Delta variant.
The Tampa Bay Times also found that the spike in hospital admissions is mainly among younger adults, aged 20-40. Over one-third of the hospitalized are under the age of 50, the analysis revealed.
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