Florida Sees 3 Days of Record Breaking COVID Cases Since Start of August
Florida has seen at least three days of record-breaking COVID-19 cases since the start of August.
According to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Tuesday marked the most recent day the Sunshine State saw a record number of new COVID-19 cases, with 24,869 new cases.
Prior to Tuesday, Florida saw a record number of new COVID-19 cases on August 5 and August 6, CDC data showed. On August 6, the state reported 23,983 new cases, which surpassed the previous record set on the day before, when there were 22,778 new COVID-19 cases.
The number of new cases reported on August 5 topped the previous single-day COVID-19 case record reported on July 30, with 21,704 new cases.
Overall, the number of new daily cases has continued to increase in Florida and the state has become the new epicenter for COVID. According to CDC data, the state's seven-day moving average number of cases has continued to increase since mid-July to numbers that the state had not seen throughout the pandemic.
As of August 11, Florida reported a seven-day moving average number of cases of around 21,210, which accounts for nearly 20 percent of the entire nation's seven-day moving average.
According to White House Pandemic Response Coordinator Jeff Zients, in the past seven days, Florida has seen more COVID-19 cases than the combined number of cases recorded in 30 other states.
"Florida and Texas alone have accounted for nearly 40 percent of new hospitalizations across the country," Zients said during a White House COVID task force press briefing on Thursday.
During a recent interview with WPLG in Florida, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that he is "concerned about all of Florida."
"If you look at the rate of increase, the inflection of increase, the number of cases. You know Florida would be right up there, if Florida was a country it would be one of the worst countries when it comes to the increase in cases," Fauci said.
According to a recent report from the Florida Hospital Association, at least 32 percent of patients hospitalized in the state are confirmed to have COVID-19. The report also estimated that 68 percent of hospitals in the state could face a "critical staffing shortage" in the next seven days.
Newsweek reached out to the Florida Department of Health for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.
