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

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. Florida reached another worrying milestone this week when it reached over 9,000 deaths related to coronavirus residents and staff members of long-term care facilities – with the vast majority involved in the elderly in nursing homes and care facilities.

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

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

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

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

Case numbers and deaths increased during the fall and winter.

Government Ron DeSantis has set its COVID-19 strategy on vaccinations, focusing on people aged 65 or older who face specific health threats posed by the virus. During an appearance Friday on Fox News, DeSantis claimed to be giving at least first doses of vaccines to nearly 1 million seniors.

“We first said seniors. This is something we need to focus on, the 65-year-old population, ”said DeSantis. ‘There are young, healthy workers who get it in other countries. God bless them, but I want to protect our defenseless. ”

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

As of Friday’s count, 20,797 of the deaths in Florida were involving people 65 years and older. This represents 83% of total deaths – a percentage that has remained relatively unchanged for months.

Long-term care deaths are also an indication of the toll the pandemic is still taking on seniors.

With an additional 85 deaths during long-term care, the total reached 9,097 – or about 36% of all deaths in the state. As another indication, more than 100 deaths during long-term care have been reported in 26 of the state’s 67 provinces since the pandemic began.

Since the onset of the outbreak, at least 70,000 residents in the hospital have been attributed to the novel coronavirus, and the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration reported Saturday afternoon that 6,707 are currently hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19 down from 7,367 people at the beginning of the week.

At least 1,328,175 vaccines were administered in Florida, with 151,447 people in the state needing both shots, but some vaccination sites had to close because they had used up their grant, and there was constant frustration from people who qualified and could not make an appointment. for a shot.

But officials are trying to promote coronavirus vaccines, spreading concerns about a new, more contagious variant that could gain a foothold in the state.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Florida had 46 confirmed cases of the more transmissible strain of COVID-19 on Sunday, which darkened California by 40 confirmed cases at the last count. The strain was first detected in the United Kingdom in December and began to spread worldwide.

Early evidence suggests that the new strain is no more deadly than earlier strains that have killed nearly 24.2 million in the U.S. 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 Tuesday. To date, the state has reported more than 24,400 virus-related deaths.

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

Communities across the country are rushing against the increase in infections as they wait for more doses of two vaccines approved for use against the virus.

“The game plan is what it used to be: Vaccinate as many people as possible as quickly as possible, try to really step on this virus and drop the total number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths,” said Dr. Glenn Morris, director said. of the Emerging Pathogens Institute at the University of Florida.

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