The number of COVID hospitalizations has tripled in the past month, accounting for nearly 40% of new hospital admissions in 3 states

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the United States has more than tripled in the past month, from an average of approximately 12,000 to nearly 43,000.CDC). According to the Associated Press, nearly 40% of hospitalizations nationwide are concentrated in Florida, Georgia and Louisiana.

Louisiana and Georgia have 38% of residents fully vaccinated, while the national vaccination rate is 49%, and Louisiana and Georgia are among the states with the lowest vaccination rates. The Associated Press stated that although Florida’s vaccination activities are closer to national standards, most states in New England have fully vaccinated more than 60% of their population.

As the highly contagious Delta variant of the virus continues to spread, there are an average of 94,000 new infections every day in the United States, similar to the rate in mid-February. According to the Associated Press, the number of daily deaths across the country has surged by 75% in the past two weeks, from an average of 244 to 426.

For more reports from the Associated Press, please see below:

In Florida, Democratic members of the Congressional delegation call the Republican governor Ron DeSantis Prevent schools and local governments from enforcing “bulls” and “fanatics” wearing masks.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz stated that Florida has accounted for about 20% of the country’s new cases in the past three weeks and has become “one of the most dangerous and least prepared places in the United States” .

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 12,500 COVID patients were hospitalized in Florida on Thursday, almost seven times the number in the state in mid-June. It reports 17,000 new cases every day, 10 times the number two months ago. These are records, surpassing the figures released before the vaccination last summer.

Wasserman Schultz criticized DeSantis for threatening to withhold millions of dollars in state funds from school districts that require students to wear masks in the coming school year.

“That’s not leadership. It’s his negligence to protect the people, and the kind of excessive expansion of the big government and the obstruction of local control that conservatives should be angry about,” she said.

DeSantis believes that children rarely get sick due to the coronavirus, and wearing masks will interfere with their learning and breathing. He said that wearing a mask should be determined by the individual, and the surge in cases is seasonal.

In Louisiana, amid a surge in COVID-19 cases, another daily hospitalization record was set. The state health department reported that there are 2,350 COVID-19 patients in hospitals across the state. This is 103 more than a day ago.

According to the CDC, more than 30,000 people in the state have tested positive for the coronavirus in the past week, and the state says that Louisiana has the highest rate of new cases per capita in the country.

The CEO of Ochsner Health, which has 40 hospitals, said there is no sign that the difficulties have eased. Warner Thomas said at a press conference in New Orleans on Thursday: “We are currently not seeing any stagnation in our model.”

He said that the system had 890 COVID-19 patients on Thursday, a 73% increase from last week. 90% of patients are not vaccinated.