Florida reported 9K COVID-19 deaths related to long-term care

JACKSONVILLE, Florida. – Florida overcame another worrying milestone this week, when it reached 9,000 coronavirus-related deaths of residents and employees of long-term care institutions – with the vast majority involving the elderly in nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

The state added 156 more COVID-19-related deaths to data released on Saturday by the Florida Department of Health. More than 25,500 Florida residents and visitors to the state died from the virus, according to state data.

Overall, Florida has the fourth highest number of COVID-19 deaths in the country, behind New York, California and Texas, according to a Johns Hopkins University website that tracks pandemic data.

Among the deaths reported on Saturday in Florida were five in St. Johns County (151 in total), four in Putnam (96) and three in Bradford (35). Duval County reported the highest number of deaths among the 11 counties that News4Jax tracked in Florida, with 863.

Florida reported an additional 12,311 cases on Saturday, bringing the state total to 1,639,914 since the pandemic began last year.

The number of cases and deaths increased during autumn and winter.

Governor Ron DeSantis set his COVID-19 strategy on vaccination, focusing on people aged 65 and over who face specific health hazards from the virus. During a Friday appearance on Fox News, DeSantis claimed to give at least the first doses of vaccines to nearly 1 million seniors.

“We said seniors first. This is something we need to focus on, the population aged 65 and over, ”said DeSantis. “There are young, healthy workers who are doing it in other states. God bless you, but I want to protect our vulnerable. “

But the supply of vaccines remains limited and the elderly remain the majority of people who die from the virus.

In Friday’s count, 20,797 of the deaths of Florida residents involved people aged 65 and over. This represented 83% of total deaths – a percentage that has remained relatively unchanged for months.

Deaths from long-term care are also another indicator of the number of victims that the pandemic continues to affect the elderly.

With 85 additional long-term care deaths reported on Friday, the total reached 9,097 – or about 36% of the total deaths of state residents. As another indicator, more than 100 deaths from long-term care have been reported in 26 of the state’s 67 counties since the pandemic began.

There have been at least 70,000 resident hospitalizations attributed to the new coronavirus in Florida since the outbreak began, and the Florida Health Administration Agency on Saturday afternoon reported 6,707 currently hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19 – below 7,367 people in the Beginning of the week.

At least 1,328,175 vaccines have been administered in Florida, with 151,447 people in the state receiving the two necessary vaccines, but some vaccination sites have had to close because they have run out of quota and there is continued frustration from qualified people who have not done so managed to make an appointment to a photo.

But the authorities are trying to increase vaccinations against the coronavirus, the concern is spreading over a new, more contagious variant that may be gaining ground in the state.

The Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Florida had 46 confirmed cases of the most transmissible strain of COVID-19 by Sunday, surpassing California with 40 cases confirmed at last count. The strain was first detected in the United Kingdom in December and started to spread globally.

The first evidence seems to indicate that the new strain is no more lethal than the previous strains that sickened nearly 24.2 million in the United States and killed more than 400,000. Florida is now approaching 1.6 million confirmed cases, with nearly 10,000 new cases and about 160 additional deaths reported Tuesday. To date, the state has reported more than 24,400 virus-related deaths.

“This new strain is more contagious, and that means that more people will be infected,” said Dr. Frederick Southwick, professor of medicine and specialist in infectious diseases at the University of Florida. “If we had a problem, we are going to have more problems now. ”

Communities across the country are fighting the rise in infections as they await more doses of two vaccines approved for use against the virus.

“The game plan is what it has been before: vaccinate as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, try to really step on the virus and decrease the overall number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths,” said Dr. Glenn Morris, director from the Emerging Pathogens Institute at the University of Florida.

The Associated Press and News Service of Florida contributed to this report.