Florida reports record high number of new Covid-19 cases this week
CNN
By Dakin Andone and Deidre McPhillips, CNN
Florida reported 134,506 new Covid-19 cases over the last week on Friday, more than any other 7-day period during the pandemic.
Data published Friday by the state health department shows the state, which releases Covid-19 data on a weekly basis, reported an average of 19,215 cases each day.
The previous record high was set January 8, with 125,937 cases reported over seven days, for an average of 17,991 cases each day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
This week’s total is about 22% higher than last week, when the state reported 110,477 total cases, for an average of about 15,782 new cases each day.
About 1 in 5 Covid-19 cases have been reported in Florida over the past couple weeks, though the state accounts for less than 7% of the US population, according to US Census Bureau data.
With the data published Friday, Florida now has the second-highest rate of new cases per capita — after Louisiana — with about 90 new cases per 100,000 people each day over the past week. Overall, the United States is averaging about 30 new cases per 100,000 people each day.
Florida reported 175 deaths and a new case positivity rate of 18.9%, state data shows.
Even before the release of Friday’s data, Florida had become the epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic in the US, which is reeling from a surge of cases and hospitalizations propelled by the Delta variant.
In addition to infections, hospitalizations are also climbing. The state has the highest number of hospitalizations per capita nationwide, with 63 hospitalizations per 100,000 residents, according to a CNN analysis of Johns Hopkins and US Health and Human Services data.
Data published Thursday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed the state led the nation in the number of adults and children admitted in hospitals with confirmed cases of Covid-19, with 12,373 adults and 143 children hospitalized at the time.
The Florida Hospital Association said in a news release Tuesday it expected 60% of the state’s hospitals to face a “critical staffing shortage” within the next seven days. At the time, FHA said hospitalizations were up 13% from the state’s previous peak on July 23, 2020, citing a survey of hospitals completed August 2.
As far as vaccinations go, about 49% of Florida’s population has been fully vaccinated, per CDC data. The number of doses administered has ticked up in recent days, with a 7-day average of about 67,364 doses administered per day over the last week, up from about 54,070 two weeks ago.
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