COVID-19: Amid spread of Delta variant, Florida's virus deaths jump to pandemic record

The Delta variant of coronavirus has become widespread in the US, even as the Biden administration continues to grapple with a plan to offer COVID-19 vaccine booster shots to the populace. According to the latest weekly report, the state of Florida, where Governor Ron DeSantis is fighting to appeal a judge’s ruling regarding his authority to ban mask mandates in school districts, has reported a record number of 2,345 deaths due to COVID-19. Johns Hopkins University's data showed that the daily average rose 36 per cent to 335, surpassing the high for the entire pandemic. 

According to the data, people aged 65 and above accounted for 63 per cent of coronavirus deaths in Florida. Overall, since the pandemic began, Florida seniors have made up 79 per cent of deaths. However, Newsweek reported that the state is experiencing a significant decrease in the number of COVID-19 infections since the surge began at the end of June with the spread of Delta variant.

According to the Florida Health Department, for the week of 27 August, there were 129,240 new cases, which were 22,612 fewer than the previous week. This is the first significant drop in new cases in the last 10 weeks. Moreover, the number of positive COVID-19 cases has dropped to 15.2 per cent, compared to 17.1 per cent during the week beginning 20 August. 

Spike in hospitalisation with Delta variant spread

Amid the spread of the Delta variant, the White House is expected to launch a campaign to administer more than 100 million COVID vaccine booster shots from the week starting on 20 September. This came after the US reported that hospitals are running out of ward space to provide adequate care to infected patients. Alarmingly, pediatric hospitals have also reached their highest levels of in-patients since the country, a year ago, started tracking COVID cases amidst children. 

States including Kentucky, Texas, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Hawaii Mississippi and Oregon have broken previous COVID-related hospitalisations records. Experts have said that the surge has been fueled by the highly transmissible COVID-19 delta variant, leading to vulnerable cases mostly among unvaccinated people. The current developments have led the US State officials to strengthen masking mandates in school premises. 

(Image: AP/Pixabay)