A year later, Florida is again the epicenter of the covid pandemic – 19 in United States.
The southern state, which in July of 2019 topped the list of infections and deaths in the country that then reported more cases and deaths in the world, returns to be again among the places most affected by the coronavirus.
Florida has registered in the last week a fifth of all new cases in the US and has broken its own records for previous waves.
Just last Saturday, the state reported 21 , 683 new infections , the highest number in the state in one day, while the number of hospitalizations also broke a record this Friday, by t third consecutive day, with 1 3 , 427 admitted, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
With this figure, hospitalizations in Florida represent the 23% of those reported nationwide.
Additionally, more children are hospitalized with the virus in Florida than in any other state in the US
“We have more covid patients in our hospital with this increase than with the original outbreak,” a hospital official in Tallahassee, the state capital.
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Florida has recorded more than 39, Johns Hopkins University.
However, the state experienced, like the rest of the United States, a notable decrease in infections and deaths as vaccination increased in previous months.
So, how was this new critical situation arrived at?
Another summer
As is often the case in summers, Florida beaches were again filled with tourists and airlines reported flights to their main destinations, either Orlando or Miami, a niv They are similar -and even higher- than 2019, before the pandemic began.
Restaurants, cinemas, shopping centers and supermarkets stopped making the use of masks mandatory.
However, this almost normal life occurred as the Delta variant spread across the country and Florida became the dominant.
“The Delta variant is more contagious than the original Alpha variant. Vaccinated people can become infected and transmit the Delta variant. However, people who have been vaccinated are much less likely to contract a serious illness, be hospitalized or die, ”Dr. José Szapocznik, professor of Public Health at the University of Miami, tells BBC Mundo.
But although the vaccine is administered freely In hundreds of places throughout 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, which implies that about 9 million people in the state have not yet received a dose.
“The main problem in Florida is that they did not get enough vaccinations. It is people in high-risk groups ”, tells BBC Mundo Amesh Adalja, principal investigator at the Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University.
According to the Academic, there was no doubt that the state would experience an increase in cases with the new variant, but the most worrying thing, which is hospitalizations, are due to “high risk” people of younger ages who did not get vaccinated.
Although the number of vaccinated elderly in the state is higher than in other places, it is not so for younger people who have some type of diseases that make them more vulnerable to the coronavirus.
According to data from the Florida Hospital Association (FHA), less than 3% of hos Current hospitalizations are for seniors or nursing home residents.
“Current hospitalizations and the growth rate continue to be extremely worrying. But vaccines work! ”Mary C. Mayhew, president and CEO of the FHA, said in a statement.
The clinical director of the AdventHealth Central Florida medical center, Neil Finkler, told the US media that none of his patients thought that, because they were healthy, they would contract the virus.
“The Delta variant has proven to be so contagious that even the young and healthy, including pregnant patients, are beginning to fill our hospitals,” he said.
Low herd immunity
According to Adalja, Another element behind the current outbreak in Florida is that vaccination levels and previous infections of people in the state were not able to create robust herd immunity.
“Apparently, there was not enough previous immunity to prevent the virus from reaching non-immune high-risk people,” he says.
According to various studies, the immunity of people who have become ill with coronavirus ranges between six months and a year, so most of those who were infected in the summer of 2020 during the previous outbreak in Florida could now be back in risk, if they are not vaccinated.
Last week, one in three cases of all those reported in the US occurred in just two states, Florida and Texas, according to the covid response coordinator – 19 of the White House, Jeff Zients.
According to the official, the cases are mainly in areas where vaccination rates are still low.
State data indicate in this regard that while some parts of Florida are experiencing hospitalizations that exceed last summer, in other areas where vaccination rates are high the hos Pitalizations are below that reported last July.
However, Szapocznik believes that another element to take into account with the new, more contagious variant is that vaccination alone is not enough , since the virus can be transmitted by those vaccinated.
“We must all wear masks and comply with physical distancing . And states must launch testing, monitoring and isolation programs before a worse variant emerges, “he opines.
” All states, including Florida, should launch a large vaccination initiative that specifically target people who are skeptical of vaccines. Our state leaders must use their intimidating pulpit to ‘preach’ vaccination, because no one is safe until we are all safe. ”
Those vaccinated are at a lower risk if they contract the virus. 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 holiday.
More than 99. 99% of people fully vaccinated against Covid – 19 have not had a major infection resulting in hospitalization or death, according to latest data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
Measures
The rapid increase in hospitalizations and cases has led officials in some cities and counties, such as Miami-Dade and Orlando, to issue new orders to require masks indoors.
And, also, some companies, amusement parks and federal government agencies have begun to require their employees who are vaccinated.
However, the main opposition to more severe 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 local government orders to combat the coronavirus and gave him the power to cancel future ones.
Despite calls to declare an emergency in the state, the governor promised that he would not reinstate any of the restrictions, considering that they “did not work” on previous occasions.
Last week, DeSantis questioned new federal guidelines recommending the use of masks even for vaccinated people and threatened to withdraw grants to schools that require them from their students.
” I think it is very important that we say unequivocally: no to school closings, no restrictions, no mandates, ‘”he said to ovations at a press conference.
DeSantis added that Florida “would choose freedom over Faucism” (in reference to Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert who again recommended the use of masks).
While this occurs in Florida, elsewhere, such as New York, proof of vaccination will be required for people who attend restaurants, gyms, and other businesses.
According to Adelja, the response to the situation in Florida and “all the problems that the United States faces” with the coronavirus is greater vaccination, especially for high-risk people.
“Other than that, unvaccinated people need to be very cautious about where they interact socially,” he says.
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