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A year later, Florida is once again the epicenter of the covid-19 pandemic in the United States.
The southern state, which in July 2020 topped the list of infections and deaths in the country which went on to report more cases and deaths globally, is once again among the places most affected by the coronavirus .
Florida recorded a fifth of all new cases in the United States last week and broke its own records for previous waves.
As late as last Saturday, the state reported 21,683 new infections, the state’s highest in a day, while the number of hospitalizations also broke a record this Friday, for the third day in a row, with 13,427 admitted, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
With that figure, hospitalizations in Florida represent 23% of those reported nationally.
Additionally, more children are hospitalized with the virus in Florida than in any other US state.
“We have more covid patients in our hospital with this increase than with the original outbreak,” a hospital official in Tallahassee, the state capital, told NBC News.
Florida has recorded more than 39,000 deaths since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.
However, the state, like the rest of the United States, has experienced a noticeable decrease in infections and deaths as vaccination increases in previous months.
So how did you come to this critical new situation?
Another summer
As is often the case in the summer, Florida beaches were once again crowded with tourists and airlines reported flights to their major destinations, either Orlando or Miami, at similar – and even higher – levels than 2019, before the start of the pandemic. .
Restaurants, cinemas, shopping centers and supermarkets have stopped making the wearing of masks compulsory.
However, this almost normal life occurred when the Delta variant spread across the country and Florida became dominant.
“The Delta variant is more contagious than the original Alpha variant. Vaccinated people can be infected and pass on the Delta variant. However, people who have been vaccinated are much less likely to get serious illness, be hospitalized or to die, ”he said. Dr José Szapocznik, professor of public health at the University of Miami, told BBC Mundo.
But despite the vaccine being freely administered in hundreds of places across the state, a portion of Florida’s population, including some at-risk groups, has refused to receive it.
According to official data, less than 60% of the local population is vaccinated, implying that about 9 million people in the state have not yet received a dose.
“The main problem in Florida is that too few people from high-risk groups have been vaccinated,” Mundo Amesh Adalja, senior researcher at the Center for Health Security at Johns University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health, told BBC Hopkins.
According to the academic, there was no doubt that the state would see an increase in cases with the new variant, but the most worrying, which are the hospitalizations, are due to people “at high risk” of younger age who do not. ‘have not been vaccinated.
While the number of older people vaccinated in the state is higher than in other places, the same is not true for young people who suffer from a type of illness that makes them more vulnerable to the coronavirus.
According to data from the Florida Hospital Association (FHA), less than 3% of current hospitalizations are among the elderly or residents of nursing homes.
“The current hospitalizations and rate of growth remain of great concern. But the vaccines are working!” Said Mary C. Mayhew, President and CEO of the FHA, in a statement.
AdventHealth Central Florida Medical Center Clinical Director Neil Finkler told U.S. media that none of his patients believed that because they were healthy they would contract the virus.
“The Delta variant has proven to be so contagious that even young and healthy people, including pregnant patients, are starting to fill our hospitals,” he said.
Low collective immunity
Another factor behind the current Florida epidemic, Adalja said, is that vaccination levels and past infections of people in the state have failed to create robust herd immunity.
“Apparently there was not enough prior immunity to prevent the virus from reaching high-risk unimmunized people,” he says.
According to several studies, the immunity of people who became ill with coronavirus ranges from six months to a year, so most of those who were infected in the summer of 2020 during the previous outbreak in Florida could now be again in danger, if they are not vaccinated.
Last week, one in three of all those reported in the United States occurred in just two states, Florida and Texas, according to White House covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients.
According to the official, the cases are mainly in areas where vaccination rates remain low.
State data suggests that while some areas of Florida are experiencing higher hospitalizations than last summer, in other areas with high vaccination rates, hospitalizations are lower than reported in Canada. last july.
However, Szapocznik believes that another thing to take into account with the new, more contagious variant is that vaccination alone is not enough, as the virus can be transmitted by those who are vaccinated.
“We must all wear masks and respect physical distancing. And states must launch testing, surveillance and isolation programs before a worst variant emerges,” he said.
“All states, including Florida, should launch a major immunization initiative that specifically targets vaccine skeptics. Our state leaders must use their intimidating pulpit to ‘preach’ immunization, because no one ‘is safe until we are all safe. he adds.
Currently, more than 70% of Americans have received at least one dose of the vaccine, a milestone President Joe Biden hoped to reach before the July 4 vacation.
More than 99.99% of people fully vaccinated against Covid-19 have not had a major infection leading to hospitalization or death, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) .
Measures
The rapid rise in hospitalizations and cases has prompted officials in some cities and counties, such as Miami-Dade and Orlando, to issue new orders requiring masks indoors.
And, also, some businesses, amusement parks, and federal government agencies have started requiring their employees to get vaccinated.
However, the main opposition to tougher measures to alleviate the current situation has come from state governor Ron DeSantis, who has consistently opposed the use of masks and quarantines.
The Republican signed a law last May that invalidated orders from local governments to fight the coronavirus and gave him the power to override futures.
Despite calls to declare a state of emergency in the state, the governor promised he would not reinstate any of the restrictions, saying they “had not worked” on several occasions.
Last week, DeSantis questioned new federal guidelines recommending the use of masks even for those vaccinated and threatened to withdraw grants from schools that require them from their students.
“I think it is very important that we say unequivocally: no to school closures, no restrictions, no mandates,” he said to a standing ovation at a press conference.
DeSantis added that Florida would “choose freedom over falconry” (referring to Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease expert who again recommended the use of masks).
While this is happening in Florida, in other places like New York City, proof of vaccination will be required for people who frequent restaurants, gyms, and other businesses.
According to Adelja, the answer to the situation in Florida and to “all the problems the United States faces” with the coronavirus is greater vaccination, especially for those at high risk.
“Other than that, unvaccinated people need to be very careful about their social interactions,” he says.
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