Florida sets records for COVID-19 cases, hospital admissions; DeSantis resists calls for action

Florida set new records for COVID-19 cases and hospital admissions on Friday as Gov. Ron DeSantis continued to ridicule mask mandates and other restrictions while physicians urged him to act to stop the rapid spread of the coronavirus.

A staggering 13,427 people across the state were hospitalized for treatment of the highly contagious respiratory disease, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Fueled by the rise of the delta variant of the virus, the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 doubled in two weeks and was the most since the pandemic began in March 2020.

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Hospitals throughout the state are feeling the strain. Only 10% of beds in adult intensive-care units were empty Friday, according to the Florida Hospital Association.

Further, in its weekly report, the Florida Department of Health said an additional 134,751 state residents were diagnosed with COVID-19 in the week ending Thursday. That means an average of 19,250 people tested positive each day, the most since the pandemic began.

Previously, the state had exceeded 19,000 cases on only two consecutive days in January.

Palm Beach County averaged 1,114 infections per day in the past week

In Palm Beach County, 7,799 people tested positive for the virus, an average of 1,114 each day during the week. The county has never before logged more than 6,456 cases in a single week.

An additional 616 people were reported dead, pushing the state’s death toll to 39,695. The weekly death count is a 50.6% increase since last Friday’s report and a nearly 167% increase since the week ending July 15. 

Still, it is far less than the average of 1,183 people who died each week from mid-January to mid-February, when the virus was surging.

During a news conference in Port St. Lucie, DeSantis said his focus on getting vaccines into the arms of elderly people, particularly those in nursing homes, paid off. 

“If you talk to hospital officials, you’re seeing a big reduction in mortality because the elderly have been protected,” DeSantis said.

He also continued to insist that the recent surge of cases is part of a “seasonal” trend that can’t be stopped.

“You have some politicians who say, 'I’m going to eliminate the virus. I will defeat it,’ ” he said, using a Darth Vader voice. “Unfortunately, government can’t just end it. These waves ebb and flow. It’s not something government can control.”

Doctors and epidemiologists disagreed.

“There’s overwhelming scientific evidence that masks prevent virus spread,” said Dr. Jennifer Zimmerman, a pediatrician who practices near Pensacola. “Simple mitigation safety measures can protect people and save lives.”

Dr. Bernard Ashby, a Miami cardiologist who joined Zimmerman in an online news conference, voiced frustration that DeSantis continues to ignore medical research and pleas from physicians who are seeing younger and sicker COVID-19 patients.

“Where’s the plan?” Ashby asked. “All DeSantis has told us is what he’s not going to do. That’s not a leader. That’s a politician.”

DeSantis rebuffs calls for mask mandates, other restrictions

But DeSantis continued to insist that mask mandates and other measures, such as restrictions on business, don’t work.

“One of the things that really irks me about people that want to shut down is you can’t show me where that’s actually worked, No. 1,” he said. “And No. 2, it hurts people. It hurts their livelihoods and it hurts their ability to put food on the table for their family.”

Despite the rising cases, DeSantis said he has no plans to institute any restrictions or roll back an executive order that makes masks optional for public school students who will return to campus next week.

“That’s not happening in Florida,” he said. “It’s harmful. It’s destructive. It does not work.”

He said people should be free to devise their own approach to the pandemic.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said vaccinated people can transmit the disease, so they should wear masks indoors in public places. But, DeSantis said, people shouldn’t be forced to follow that advice. 

“I think folks are making their own individual risk determinations,” he said. “I think most folks, including me, my view is, ‘I got the shot. I’ve got to do my job and live life.’ And I think most people are doing that.”

“We believe individuals know best how to assess their risk,” he continued. “We trust them to be able to make those decisions.”

'A pandemic of misinformation,' doctor says of those who refuse vaccines

The problem is that too many people have been distracted by false information about both the dangers of the disease and the safety of the vaccine, the doctors said during the press conference.

“It’s a pandemic of misinformation,” said Dr. Mona Mangat, a St. Petersburg immunologist. Instead of following doctors’ advice and getting vaccinated, patients believe myths that are spread on the internet.

Zimmerman agreed. “When they use false information to base their research on, they will not come to the right conclusion,” she said.

State health officials said 356,051 people got vaccinated during the week, nearly double the weekly vaccination levels earlier this month. Still, the number of state residents over the age of 12 who have received at least one shot of the two-dose Moderna and Pfizer vaccines remained stagnant at 61%.

Just 53.2% of state residents are fully vaccinated. Health officials said at least 70% of those eligible need to be vaccinated to control the spread of the virus.

DeSantis could help spur people to take steps to protect themselves by reinstituting daily reports that detail the recent state of the pandemic. Since June 4, the state health department only releases weekly updates on Fridays. Key information is missing.

The department, for instance, no longer releases detailed information about how the virus is playing out in individual counties. It doesn’t report how many people have died by county or which age groups are most affected.

It also doesn’t report how many people have been admitted to local hospitals with COVID-19 or the impact it is having on specific medical centers.

“Not releasing the data only further clouds the situation,” Zimmerman said.

Ashby said he has seen too many people, including young adults, die unnecessarily. Masks should be mandatory, particularly in schools, to stop the spread of the virus.

The situation is frustrating, he said.

“Something as simple as wearing a mask has become a political lightning rod,” he said. “It’s ridiculous. We need to stop it.”

jmusgrave@pbpost.com