‘Unvaccinated pandemic’: Florida accounts for 20% of the outbreak of new COVID-19 cases in the United States

Florida’s COVID-19 cases have climbed to nearly 46,000 this week, representing 20% ​​of all new cases in the country.

The astonishing number is double the cases of the previous week and four times the cases in mid-June, according to statistics from the Florida Health Department.

The health department also reported 231 new deaths, up from 172 in the week ending July 9, according to The Orlando Sentinel.

The states with the highest outbreaks now also include Nevada, Missouri, and Arkansas, all of which have low vaccination rates of around 50% of the population with at least one dose. Arkansas and Missouri have more cases now than they did in the winter. Some rural areas have vaccination rates as low as 20%.

In Florida, 59% of residents received at least one dose. States with rates of 70% or more do much better.

The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Rochelle Walensky, during a press briefing at the White House on Friday, called the epidemics a “pandemic of the unvaccinated.” (See the video below.)

The vaccinated remain relatively safe, she said, while the unvaccinated are “at risk”. Of those recently hospitalized with COVID-19, 97% are unvaccinated, Walensky added.

“Our biggest concern is that we will continue to see preventable cases, hospitalizations and, unfortunately, deaths among the unvaccinated,” she said.

The country now averages about 26,000 cases per day, an increase of almost 70% from the average for the previous seven days, according to Walensky. Hospitalizations are about 2,790 per day – a 36% increase from the previous week – and deaths are up 26% to 211 per day.

Walensky said states with sharply increasing cases may consider reinstating indoor mask warrants.

President Joe Biden slammed social media on Friday for spreading vaccine misinformation that is costing lives.

“They kill people,” he said. “The only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated. And they kill people.