FLORIDA, USA — According to the latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Florida has seen a higher rate of recent COVID-related hospital admissions than any other state in the U.S.
COVID-19 hospitalizations are now the highest they've been since January.
The latest data from the CDC shows 43 of Florida's 67 counties have reported increased levels of COVID hospital admissions per week, the most per capita in the U.S. This includes all Tampa Bay-area counties.
Health experts cited by ABC News say there are multiple reasons for this, particularly new variants that spread more easily and the fact that more people are gathering indoors without wearing masks.
Anti-mask and anti-vax
As increasing COVID cases have put other states on alert and weighing appropriate measures to curb increases, Florida's top leaders have pushed back against COVID vaccinations and mask mandates.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has openly bashed efforts by the U.S. to try to prevent another COVID surge, calling them a "bogus attempt the Left makes to expand government control" in a campaign e-mail and, at a recent news conference in Jacksonville, declaring that Florida would not institute any protective measures. DeSantis has also touted the "medical freedom" laws he signed banning mask or vaccine mandates in the state.
"We did not, and we will not, allow the dystopian visions of paranoid hypochondriacs to control our health policies," DeSantis said during the conference.
DeSantis also described the push for the latest COVID booster as "medical authoritarianism" and a money-making move by the pharmaceutical industry.
At the same news conference, Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo urged residents to ignore public health advice and avoid the new vaccine, falsely claiming that the vaccine had "a lot of red flags."
"There’s been no clinical trial done in human beings showing that it benefits people. There's been no clinical trial showing that it is a safe product for people," said Ladapo, despite the booster being a variant of the already approved and established mRNA COVID vaccines. According to Reuters, Pfizer and Moderna found the new booster to be effective against the latest COVID variants in testing.
Ladapo has also repeatedly made unfounded claims that the vaccines increase the risk of heart problems in young men. An earlier report showed that Florida officials removed data from a state study showing that COVID infections posed a far greater risk of heart problems than the vaccine did.
The CDC says that instances of myocarditis and pericarditis, both involving inflammation of the heart, are rarely reported and happen within a week of vaccination if they occur. The known risks of COVID "far outweigh outweigh the potential risks of having a rare adverse reaction to vaccination."
New variants
The rise of new variants and subvariants of the COVID-19 variants is another major factor behind rising cases as many variants have proved to be more easily transmissible and, in some cases, better evading the body's immune response preventing infection, even among people who have been vaccinated or recovered from previous infections.
According to the latest data from the CDC, just over one-third of new cases in the U.S. are made up of EG.5 and FL.1.5.1, subvariants related to XBB, an offshoot of omicron. The CDC is also closely monitoring BA.2.86, a variant notable for its ability to dodge immune system defenses.
However, while many of these variants are more easily transmissible than past versions of the virus, the infections from them are not as severe as those resulting from Delta or earlier strains of the coronavirus. According to local reporting from WEAR News, a few of the hospitalized COVID patients have experienced severe complications from the latest wave.
With the new COVID booster deemed to be effective against the latest variants, experts are hopeful the vaccine could prevent a future wave of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.
You can find more information on the newly approved COVID-19 booster by reading our guide to the new vaccine.