The Florida surge is a microcosm of a summer gone wrong. The state of Florida is experiencing its worst surge of the pandemic. Last week, it averaged nearly 25,000 new cases every day. The previous high, in January, was about 18,000. More than 17,000 Floridians are hospitalized with Covid-19, another record; around 230 people are dying every day. Florida leads all states in the number of hospitalizations and deaths per capita.
The city of Orlando has urged residents to limit their water use, because the same liquid oxygen used to treat the water supply is being used to provide air to Covid-19 patients. The Florida health department asked the federal government to send more ventilators as the number of hospitalized patients spiked — a request Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has staked his political reputation on his laissez-faire response to the pandemic, claimed to know nothing about.
In recent days, cases may have started to plateau, increasing “only” 11 percent in the past two weeks. But it’s hard to be sure because testing is inadequate: Nearly 20 percent of tests are coming back positive in the state. Experts say that number should be at 5 percent or lower in order to be confident most cases are being caught.
Most of last year, Florida was an example of success for the people who advocated for a less restrictive response to Covid-19.At that time Florida’s case and death rates weren’t noticeably worse than other states that were more aggressive about mandating masks or closing businesses.
Florida is experiencing its worst surge now, 18 months into the pandemic. The question is why?
In some ways, what’s happening in Florida is a microcosm of the current surge across America: The state and the nation’s vaccination rate has collided with a more contagious version of the virus. It is currently happening in a state where political leaders continue to insist people should act as though the pandemic is over — even as more people are dying every day than at any point in the past year.
About half of Florida residents, or 52 percent, are fully vaccinated, according to the Times’s data. That’s not terrible, Mississippi and Alabama currently rank last, with less than 38 percent, but it’s not great either. The Sunshine State is 25th among states in vaccination rate.
In counties with more than 1,000 new cases per 100,000 people, vaccination rates are stuck in the 30s and 40s. Counties with vaccination rates of 60 percent or above are still seeing a significant amount of spread. But it’s substantially less, sometimes by more than half, than the worst-off areas, according to the state’s data. Less vaccinated counties have been driving the current wave.
“Insufficient vaccine coverage is contributing a lot,” Cindy Prins, a University of Florida epidemiologist, told me.
The current-dominant delta variant has also made the situation worse because it spreads more efficiently than its predecessors. It also seems to cause more virulent disease, which is likely contributing to the record number of hospitalizations.