A record-breaking 23,903 new Covid-19 cases were reported in Florida on Friday, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This marks the third time this week that Florida has surpassed its record of new daily Covid-19 cases. The state first reported its highest one-day total on July 31 with 21,683 new cases. Then, on Thursday, at least 22,783 new daily cases were reported, CDC data shows.
"This is real. And it didn’t have to be this bad," Nikki Fried, Florida's commissioner of agriculture and consumer services, tweeted Saturday. "We need everyone to do their part — #GetVaccinatedNow & #MaskUp. If not for yourself, for your friends, family, and neighbors. For our kids. For our doctors & nurses. For Florida."
Covid-19 hospitalizations in the state have also increased at record-breaking levels for six consecutive days, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services.
On Saturday, Florida recorded 13,747 hospitalizations related to Covid-19, with at least 2,753 patients in intensive care units statewide, accounting for 43 percent of the intensive care units beds available in the state.
The coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 620,404 Americans, according to a rolling NBC News tally. At least 39,695 of those fatalities have been in Florida, in a per capita rate that puts the state squarely in the middle of the pack.
About 49.3 percent of Florida's population has been fully vaccinated, according to NBC's vaccination tracker. That puts Florida slightly behind other large states like California (53.3 percent), New York (57.5 percent) and Pennsylvania (52.8 percent) but ahead of Illinois (48.9 percent) and Texas (43.3 percent).
Leprechaunaissance on August 8th, 2021 at 04:58 UTC »
One thing a lot of the anti-vaccine crowd seems not to know of is that as little kids and babies, most North Americans are vaccinated against a good number of what were once fatal afflictions. We've all been vaccinated a lot and not one of those shots killed me, my friends or my family. If there were no internet - the source of all kinds of misinformation and self-diagnosis - there would be far fewer naysayers, I think.
Izzo on August 8th, 2021 at 03:05 UTC »
Imagine what the actual numbers are.
wilkil on August 8th, 2021 at 03:02 UTC »
This is exactly what the “this is fine” meme is made for.