The Florida Department of Health's weekly COVID-19 report showed there were nearly twice as many new cases from July 10-16 than the week before.
White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said Friday that one in five new cases nationally were in Florida.
For the last seven days ending Thursday, Florida had a daily average of more than 6,500 cases. The 45,604 positive tests recorded this week puts the state's total case count above 2.4 million.
The positivity rate for new cases shot up to 11.5%, nearly four times higher than rates from last month.
About 3,200 COVID patients are hospitalized in the state, a jump of 73% since June 14. The increase comes after months of steady decline that began when widespread vaccinations became available. Florida has the fourth-highest per-capita hospitalization rate in the U.S., behind Nevada, Missouri and Arkansas.
Almost all COVID deaths and hospitalizations nationally in recent weeks have been among the unvaccinated.
“This is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “We are seeing outbreaks of cases in parts of the country that have low vaccination coverage because unvaccinated people are at risk. And communities that are fully vaccinated are generally faring well.”
In Florida, the number of vaccinations administered per week has fallen by almost 80% since April. Less than 60% of the population 12 and older is fully vaccinated.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis attributed the case increase to a seasonal pattern.
“We knew it was going to be low in May and it was, and we know as we got to the end of June, July would go up, because that’s what happened last year,” DeSantis said at a press conference in Orlando on Tuesday.
Each week, the Florida Department of Health will provide updates on the number of coronavirus cases, changes in positivity rate, vaccinations, and other statewide and county-by-county data.
The following is a summary from July 9-15, 2021.
UPDATE: Weekly Situation Report From The Florida Department Of Health
Cases: 2,406,809 positive cases, an increase of 45,604 from the previous week.
Vaccinations: 11,292,335 Florida residents have been vaccinated, a weekly increase of 224,396. In all, 59% of Florida’s population has received at least one dose of vaccine.
Positivity Rate: The positivity rate for new cases was 11.5%, up from 7.8% the previous week.
Deaths: A total of 38,388 Florida residents have died from a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, an increase of 231 from the previous week.
(NOTE: Cases and deaths in the report may have happened days or weeks earlier, according to state officials. The state is also now only counting deaths involving Florida residents.)
(July 9-15, 2021)
ABOUT THE DATA: As of June 4, 2021, the Florida Department of Health no longer offers daily updates on coronavirus data, and instead issues a county-by-county and statewide weekly breakdown on about COVID-19 cases, deaths, and other information. Cases and deaths in the report may have happened days or weeks earlier, according to state officials. The state is also now only counting deaths involving Florida residents.
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Information from Health News Florida's Stephanie Colombini, the Associated Press and News Service of Florida was used in this report.
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